Tombkeeper Shinigami
by iPanda16
Summary: On the day that Marik was to be initiated into the tombkeeper clan he dies. A year later the rest of his family dies and they later get sent to the soul society. Ever since then Marik had promised to become a shinigami so he could protect other souls from dangerous hollows. Some thiefshipping, a little of deathshipping, ripshipping and more
1. The Death

_**Hey iPanda here. Just a little info here that this is my first crossover fanfic that happened to involve two different anime's this is basically a crossover of Yu-gi-Oh and bleach and the idea just came to me randomly. There's quite a bit of thiefshipping so do look forward to that.**_

Marik remembered being told over and over in his childhood that he would be the heir to the Ishtar clan and the next guardian to the Pharaoh's tomb. But what no one told him is what would happen if he were to die. He always suspected that maybe his twin brother Mariku would take the responsibility as the next heir if Marik were to cease his existence. Which in any case did prove to be true. Poor Marik remembered being told by his father weeks before the tomb keeper's initiation if he was looking forward to it. Marik of course confessed his fears to facing something that will drastically change his life forever and begged if Mariku could take the responsibility. Him and his siblings talked of any possible loop hole for the initiation and Mariku, despite being the youngest twin excepted the responsibility much to Marik's delight. But his father would not except this and despite everything that Marik was against; begging and pleading the entire time to not be forced into the initiation, Marik was tied to the table and the hot blade carved into his back by his own father. Marik wasn't sure when he died during the initiation, all he knew is that at some point his body grew numb from the pain, that he grew tired and his eye lids became heavy, he remembered that he stopped screaming, and that he felt something pulling him away and when Marik closed his eyes finally he remembered standing next to his body on the initiation table with a chain attached to his chest and his father still carving into his back thinking that his son hadn't died but had passed out from shock. Marik stood quietly watching as his father finished the initiation and attempted to wake up Marik. When his body refused to move or even stir his father assumed the worse and called in a medic to check on his son. The medic checked the body and shook his head signaling the worst has already happened. His father fell to the ground screaming in rage and despair, and for the first time in his existence, Marik knew of his father's love for him. If only Marik hadn't have died he would have been happy to see his father crying and holding his son's body so close to him and would even hug him back.

Then it was his sibling's turn to react to his death. Isis fell to the ground holding her face in her hands sobbing loudly. Rishid knelt to the ground and held Isis close to him and stroked her hair gently trying to soothe her grief. Marik and Mariku always had a hunch that Rishid might have feelings for Isis and didn't object to it either. Rishid after all wasn't their blood brother so there was no problem if Rishid and Isis were to fall in love. Their have been ways for the Ishtar clan to exist in a tomb for thousands of years without causing any inbreeding to occur. And Mariku of course reacted predictably; by throwing a tantrum. Marik watched in silence as Mariku lashed out at their father, screaming, cursing, and beating against his chest while his father looked down sadly and knelt down to hold him, but Mariku of course wouldn't allow any comfort from the man that killed his twin and pushed away from him while giving one final punch into his cheek before running down the halls screaming. Mariku ran down every hall until he finally found Marik's body being cleaned of all excess blood on his body. The adults tried shooing Mariku out of the room but Mariku fought them off the best he could until he ran over to his twin's body and cursed Marik for dying on their birthday. For the first time ever Marik witnessed his stronger twin cry since the day of their birth. And Marik cried, too. He ran over and tried embracing Mariku as they both cried but Marik was again forced to realize that he can no longer speak to his brother, that he can no longer touch his brother, that no one will ever see him again and this is what made Marik cry even more. He knew that death would free him from the Ishtar clan traditions but Marik had no idea how much his family loved him upon his death. Marik cried bitterly for hours while his family grieved over his death until days later they gave him his funeral. It was tradition that they cremate the body's of the dead so they wouldn't have to deal with the stench of rotting flesh in the tomb and that they believed burying a body in the Pharaoh's tomb to be a form of blasphemy. Only one tomb shall house a body. And so for the first time since his mother's death he witnessed his family reach the surface to scatter his ashes into the wind. It was bright. The surface was so bright. Marik always asked what the surface looked like but his father refused to answer, saying that the Ishtar family had no need to see the surface. But of course this increased Marik's curiosity so he vowed that one day he would come and see the surface. He just wished that he could've been alive to see the sun, and the sky for the first time.

Weeks later his father arranged for the tomb keepers initiation on his second son: Mariku. As expected everyone besides Mariku objected to it. Isis and Rishid haven't fully recovered to Marik's death and begged that Mariku wouldn't have to face the same fate as Marik. Mariku just watched everyone bicker over whether or not it should be okay for him to go through the initiation with complete indifference. Marik knew his twin would except the initiation. It was something they talked about before his death. If Marik didn't want the initiation than his twin would except it. So when everyone stopped arguing and turned to Mariku for an answer his brother smiled and said the only thing Marik had hoped he wouldn't say but knew he would:

"I'll take it."

Marik was of course worried for his brother. He died thanks to the initiation. But he thought that maybe Mariku was excepting it because of their promise or maybe he wanted to atone for his brother's death. Or maybe he had an ulterior motive. Whichever the reason Mariku's initiation was considerably more different to Marik's. Mariku walked down the hall with the guards walking beside him, unlike Marik who was dragged down the halls crying and begging for help. And Mariku also laid himself down on the table and allowed himself to be bounded in case he changed his mind at the last minute. And the thing that disturbed Marik even more was that his brother's reaction was _much_ more different than his own. Marik was crying and screaming the whole time but Mariku was _laughing_! This disturbed Marik even more and made him think twice about watching his initiation. Marik wanted to turn away and to leave the room but he couldn't bear it if he saw his brother die before him so Marik stayed and watched. Sometimes he would turn to the guards and see what was their reaction to Mariku's incessant laughter. They were all cringing, their faces crinkled up uncomfortably. His father was even disturbed by this. It's like this was the first time ever that they ever witnessed a ten year old boy laugh hysterically through out the whole initiation. And when it was over Mariku didn't seem bothered at all. He even tried standing up on his own if it weren't for his father stopping him, telling him that he needs to be bandaged first. Mariku was visibly displeased but laid back down so they could clean up all the blood, put ointment on all his wounds which made him wince at the feeling of cool gel being rubbed against his wounds and had up to ten yards worth of bandages wrapped all over his body. Mariku again tried getting up but his father told him that he should take it easy for a few weeks and offered a hand to his son to help him off the table. Mariku glared at the hand and Marik thought he was going to smack it away or spit at his father but Mariku relented and excepted the hand and allowed himself to be led back to his room where Isis and Rishid were waiting.

Marik knew that his older siblings had heard his laughing. It wasn't that hard to miss. If possible everyone in the entire tomb must have heard his insane laughter. But despite that both Isis and Rishid put on a front that displayed concern for the younger Ishtar instead of uncomfortable worry for their own well-being. It was at that point where everyone and even Marik himself began to question Mariku's sanity and whether the initiation was at all a good idea.

After a while things have calmed down and began their normalcy while Marik watched. Mainly he watched over his twin. While everyone returned to their original life style, Marik watched over Mariku. Marik couldn't shake off the feeling that maybe Mariku really was insane even though he calmed down completely after the initiation. Marik had this nagging feeling in his chest that maybe Mariku had an ulterior motive after all and didn't care about Marik or the Ishtar clan. So more than anyone else Marik watched his brother constantly, in case Mariku did something suspicious. He didn't like that he was haunting his brother but truthfully he didn't have much choice either.

He thought that once he died he would go to the after life but he hasn't gone anywhere else besides the surface and the tomb. To top it off he's had this chain attached to his chest the entire time after his death. The scary part is that Marik had caught the chain eating away at itself _literally!_ Little mouths would appear at the farthest end of the chain and eat away at itself once or twice a day causing brief moments of panic for Marik. But after months of seeing this Marik had adjusted to it. He's gone to the library inside the tomb to find an answer for the encroaching chains, but he couldn't touch anything physically. Sadly enough, Marik had a feeling that even if he could grab a hold of an object physically, that he wouldn't be able to find an actual proper answer to his situation. So instead Marik spent his time watching Mariku by day and visiting the surface by night. Predictably the surface at night wasn't as fun as he thought it would be. Aside from watching TV in stranger's houses things have proven to be boring for the dead. Not being able to touch anything, or to say anything has been an extreme disadvantage. No one could hear him when he talks to them and his hand would slide right through everything he touched. And things back home haven't changed much at all. Rishid continued his sworn promise and looked after Mariku even though it looked like as if he didn't need anyone to watch over him. Isis read through books giving Marik a golden opportunity and read through the books at the same time as Isis. Still he couldn't find anything helpful. But Marik couldn't give up hope. He needed help. But everything Isis read had done no help for Marik! So Marik went back to his old routine to looking over his twin, and watching TV in nearby villages.

On the bright side he has seen many other ghosts as well. Many of them having been dead much longer than Marik. A lot of them were friendly, while others wanted nothing to do with Marik. Marik understood completely. Many dead people were probably like Marik and were trying to understand their death. Well not understand his death per se, but more like understand what exactly is happening to his body. Why does he have this chain on his chest? And why does the chain occasionally eat away at itself? Marik may never find the answer.

It has been a whole year now since his death. Marik never knew he'd be turning 11 while everyone mourned the first anniversary of his death and the failure of the tomb keeper's initiation. Marik watched as Isis and Rishid cooked his favorite food and shared it between the family. And at the same time Marik didn't want to watch. It hurt to watch his family eat koshary, and drink tea, and talk about all the good times they had with Marik before his death. How Isis would read fairy tales to Marik when he was younger. One of Marik's favorite that Isis mentioned was this story about the genie that could grant three wishes. And she even said what Marik's three wishes were: To see the surface, to grow up the way he wanted to and not have to be forced into anything that he was against, and for his family to be free from the responsibility of looking over a dead Pharaoh's tomb. Marik cried hearing Isis say all this and his family cried too. Everyone besides Mariku. Mariku developed the same scowl Marik saw last year and Mariku began yelling and cursing at their father for killing his only blood brother. He confessed to how much he truly hated his father, while Marik was just afraid of him. He yelled, and cursed and Marik cried the whole time. Mariku really did care about Marik after all. It just took a whole year to realize this. But one thing that Marik didn't want his brother to do was to run away and come back with the sennen rod. Marik watched as his family pulled away from the dining table as Mariku pulled at the sheath of the sennen rod revealing a dagger inside it. Marik's eyes widened in fear as his siblings gasped and stepped further away and Mariku ran right up to his father and stabbed him numerous times in the abdomen and chest. Isis cried and Rishid pulled Mariku away from their father. It was too late. Their father was already standing outside of his body with a chain attached to his chest linking it too his body. His father looked frantically all over the room before focusing on Marik. Marik looked away from his father and watched Rishid struggle with Mariku as one of the guards that came in tried to pull the sennen rod from his hand.

"Marik, look at me!" his father ordered and Marik obeyed and looked over to his father with an indifferent gaze. Marik experienced all this before just a year ago, and now his father is sharing the same fate as well. His father didn't speak to Marik but instead ran over and embraced him. Marik was caught by surprise and as much as he wanted to hug back he pulled away from his father and pointed at the struggle that was still happening between his younger twin, his step brother and now two guards.

"Do you see this? This is because of you! You killed me and now Mariku is going to kill everyone and it's all because you forced me into the initiation! I hate you! I'll always hate you! This is all your _fault!"_ Marik yelled at his father.

Marik said it. He finally said what he's been thinking for a whole year now. Marik finally said what Mariku just said minutes ago before killing his father but only with much more rage in his voice than any that Marik had ever experienced in his life. Mariku was right. Marik _was_ afraid of his father. But now Marik has the upper hand. He now has reason to finally give his father every verbal lashing that he was too afraid to give while his twin was more than willing to yell at anyone that looked at him wrong. His father was completely agape at first but frowned solemnly and Marik and his father turned to the fight that Mariku was having with everyone right now. It was ridiculous that Mariku was the only one that was armed and slashing at everyone in sight. One guard was already dead and one was on the verge of death. Rishid was on the ground clutching at a stab wound on his leg. Marik hoped that his twin didn't slash at Rishid's femoral artery but the chances of hope was very unlikely. Marik had watched enough health channels at the surface to know that hope right now has disappeared and that Mariku was going to kill everyone in sight. He already killed three people and now he has his sights on killing Isis and Rishid before the next guard came in and stopped Mariku. As expected though, no guard came in and Mariku had indeed killed Isis and Rishid viciously before anyone came in to stop it. It was as if God wanted Mariku to snap and kill everyone that wanted Marik to go through the initiation that caused his death. When a guard finally came in, Mariku took the only route he thought possible. Marik knew his twin was tired. He knew his twin had lost a little bit of blood having accidentally stabbed himself in his homicidal rampage. And when a new guard came in Mariku did the only possible escape he could think of: he killed himself. And since then Marik was the one to explain to his family and the two guards that they are dead and that they no longer are tied to the responsibilities to being a tomb keeper and can now live their life outside of the tomb.

"But we're _not_ alive, Marik. We are dead!" Isis tearfully exclaimed. Marik frowned.

"I know but we don't have to watch the tomb anymore! We are _free!_ Mariku has freed us from this fate and we can finally escape the darkness, and move into the light of the surface!" Marik said cheerfully. Rishid was the second to speak.

"Marik-sama, you've been dead for a year now and even you haven't gone into the light. How can we go into the light as well?" Rishid asked.

"Yeah and what are these chains attached to our chests?" Mariku yelled holding the chain attached to his chest. Marik frowned not having the answer to that.

"I-I don't know… I've been dead for a year and even I haven't found the answer to the chains or why we haven't passed on to the afterlife…"And that was it.

Nothing else was said for the rest of the evening. Or for the rest of the week. Everyone was coming to terms with their death. The two guards left. Marik didn't know where they went too. They probably took his advice and left the tomb. His family on the other hand stayed. They simply refused to leave. Well Mariku wanted to leave the tomb but everyone else had wanted to stay. They felt that if they left they would be leaving the only thing that gave them purpose in their existence. So Marik decided to stay despite Mariku's objection. Marik didn't know what would happen to him if he left his family and only had Mariku to give him company. So reluctantly Marik stayed but Mariku left. Mariku called Marik a coward for refusing to leave and left the tomb. Isis and Rishid stayed with Marik the whole time while he cried over losing his twin, his other self, his stronger half. No one could ever understand his pain. It was quite some time before Mariku returned. No one saw it coming. Everyone thought that he would have left for good but he came back and Marik was happy. He ran up to his brother and hugged him tightly while crying. Mariku awkwardly hugged back but after a few seconds of Marik sobbing into his gown Mariku finally pulled him away with a serious look on his face. He had something important to say.

"Marik, I have something to say. There are these people in black robes just outside the tomb that could help us. They have the answer to why we have chains on our chests and why we haven't moved on yet. They could get us to move on!" Mariku said happily.

It was hard for anyone to trust him. Mariku had been gone for nearly two months and comes back saying that people in black robes could get them to move on? Marik was probably the only one to believe Mariku. He _had_ to believe him. It was his twin and he came back with just the words he needed to hear! These people could have the answer to why no one has been able to move on to the after life this entire time! Marik chose to believe Mariku, and even Isis and Rishid followed them to the surface.

Their father chose to stay. The Ishtar tomb keepers way was the only thing he had left. Isis and Rishid shared their goodbyes while Marik and Mariku waited at the tomb gate to leave. They of course still held resentment for the man that ruined everything and wanted nothing more but to leave, and when Isis and Rishid finally met up with them they stepped through the gate where the said people were surface waiting for them. One looked like a child with white spiked up hair and the other was clearly older than the other with cherry blonde hair and abnormally large breasts. Isis covered her chest self-consciously at the sight. These two people didn't look like they had the answer to their salvation but Marik wanted to believe his brother.

"Is this your family?" The boy spoke. Mariku stepped forward.

"This is it." Mariku confirmed. Marik was the first to speak.

"M-my name is Marik Ishtar. This is Isis Ishtar my older sister, and that is Rishid Ishtar my older step brother. My twin brother told me you could show us a way to the after life?" Marik asked stepping forward eagerly. The boy nodded and walked up to the Ishtar's and pulled out his sword. Everyone flinched and inched away from the two people thinking this was a bad idea. The blond noticed and giggled.

"Oh, don't you worry about his zanpaku-to! Normally it's used for fighting but in this case it's used to send all of you to the Soul Society!" She said waving off their doubts.

"But wait, I want to know why we have these chains on our chests, and how a sword could send us to the afterlife!" Marik shouted. Moving on could wait. Right now Marik wanted answers. The boy looked at Marik for a moment before re-sheathing his sword.

"Very well. I'll tell you, and then you have to move on," The boy said. "The chains you have on your chests stand for your attachments to this world. Even though you probably wanted to move on the chains stayed getting smaller and smaller and over time the chain would have disappeared and you would turn into a monster called a 'hollow'," The boy explained. Marik looked at the chain on his chest. It was now only at least five links off his chest. It would only be a matter of time before he became this "hollow". "Our jobs as shinigami is to prevent that from happening. So we leave Soul Society on a mission to purify hollows and to send earthbound spirits to Soul Society. Or the 'after life' as you called it." The boy finished explaining and the blond stepped forward.

"Don't you worry about a thing about where you would go. Soul Society is what you call 'heaven'. There you won't have to worry about becoming a hollow or getting attacked. There are plenty of people there to help you out on your arrival too. So everything will be covered when you move on." The blond said cheerfully.

All doubts the Ishtar's had were gone now. They trusted these "shinigami" because there were helping them. They told Marik all he needed to know and that was enough. They all excepted their help into sending them to the Soul Society. They started with Mariku who wanted to go first. The boy drew out his sword and tapped Mariku on the forehead with the handle. A light glowed from his head and Mariku disappeared into Soul Society. A butterfly flew from the spot he disappeared from. Marik was the one to go next. He remembered the feeling of finally moving on. He felt lighter, and much calmer. It was much different than he expected. He thought a tunnel was going to appear in front of him with a bright light ahead of him. But instead he felt his eyesight get blurry and in a second he was in a forest with Mariku standing next to him looking around wondering where they were. Isis showed up next and then Rishid came last. One thing that Marik was grateful for was that they no longer had the chains on their chests like before and didn't need to worry about becoming a hollow like the shinigami said. Unfortunately, they didn't hear from the two shinigami after that.

The only thing that had helped the Ishtar family in the least was a path that led straight to a nearby village. The citizen's of that village all wore similar clothing to what the shinigami wore. Marik never received this much attention from this many people in his life. It was clear that the Ishtar's stood out like a sore thumb because of their skin color and clothes. All the people around here had much lighter skin than the Ishtars and wore these different colored robes. Mariku stuck out his tongue and everyone went back to what they were doing before they arrived. Isis and Rishid walked up to a bazaar that had robes on display. The merchant looked up at the siblings and squinted her eyes inquisitively.

"Excuse me, but how much would these robes be?" Isis asked nervously.

"You're not from around here are you?" The merchant asked. Isis cleared her throat.

"No, we just arrived to the Soul Society. What is this place?" Isis asked

"This is the Rukangai. Everyone besides the shinigami live here. Normally I would charge people for kimono's but for newcomers I'm obligated to give you guys a handful of clothes free of charge." The merchant said smiling. All of the Ishtar's smiled in return. That woman was right. Things will be much easier for them upon arrival!

They all picked the robes or "kimono's" that they favored. Each taking up to four pairs free of charge. Marik took a bright red kimono with black plants printed on it, and a light blue one with birds on it, a grey kimono, and finally a purple kimono. Mariku snorted when Marik reached for the purple one first so Marik took a few other "manly" looking kimono's. Mariku took a red kimono with black birds on it, a dark green kimono, a black kimono, and finally a dark blue one. Isis took a white kimono with pretty flowers on it, a pink one, a purple on, and a light blue one. Rishid took a dark red kimono, a brown kimono, a white kimono, and a bright green kimono. The merchant looked at them funny for a second before Mariku rudely asked why she was staring at them like that.

"Do you want some pants to go with those? It's optional, but it's also free for new residents." The merchant said. The boys looked at each other for a second before grabbing a few matching pairs of pants to go with the robes.

"Would you like to try that on? I have a changing room inside you could use. Here I'll give you a bag to hold all those for you." She said leading them into the shop.

Like she said there were a number of closets or "changing rooms" and she gave them all burlap bags to contain their new clothes. Marik stepped into one of the changing rooms and pulled off his gown. He looked at the kimono for a minute not sure on how to wear something like this. This is the first time he's ever seen a kimono before and he wasn't sure on how to put it on. So he put on the pants first and tied up the string into a knot. Marik looked at himself in the mirror before turning around to confirm his fears. He still had the memory of the Pharaoh carved into his back. Marik moved his hand to touch it and felt the bumped up skin that stood out like a sore bruise on his body. If Marik still has this mark in the afterlife than maybe his twin still had his mark, too. Marik sighed angrily again cursing his father for doing this too him and his brother. Marik turned around and put on the kimono, folding it over his chest and tucking in half of it into his pants like the way the citizen's outside wore it. He wrapped a sash around his waist finally changing out of his old clothes and into his new ones. Something about these clothes felt so different compared to the old gowns he wore back in the tomb. These clothes were soft and felt good on his skin. It was almost like he wasn't wearing anything at all. And wearing pants for the first time was certainly a bonus. He liked these clothes. Stepping out of the room he could see his sister Isis standing outside adjusting the belt nervously. Mariku was already done changing his clothes and was sitting on a bench looking around the room clearly bored. Marik walked over to his brother and sat next to him.

"So, how do I look?" Marik asked. Mariku glanced over and smirked.

"Like a lady." He teased making Marik playfully elbow him. Marik wore the red kimono with the plants printed on it. Mariku wore his black kimono. To Marik he didn't think he looked like a woman at all, but that didn't stop them from their normal teasing. For once since his death Marik felt that things were finally going back to normal. When Rishid finally stepped out of the changing room in his brown kimono it was clear that the first part of plan "A" was done. Now they needed to find food and a place to stay.

But they couldn't find anyone willing to let them live with them. They were afraid of them. They were afraid of them because of their darker skin. It was obvious that these people had never seen an Egyptian before. So many dead people here and not one of them has ever seen a person with darker skin. So instead they went out to find food instead. Of course like before with the kimono's they got free food. It was nice that they got free things for being new to the Soul Society. But the problem still remained that they have no place to stay. And the sun was setting too. They had very little time left before they ended up staying their first night in Soul Society in the streets and the Ishtar's were growing desperate. After giving up and sitting down in front of a tavern they all decided to stay the night sleeping in the alley, much to Mariku's displeasure.

"This isn't fair! That shinigami woman said that everything will be prepared for us and not one single person has let us stay in there house! Not even letting us stay the night in an Inn! How could they do that to us! That woman lied!" Mariku shouted standing up and stomping his feet across the ground.

"We have no choice, Mariku. No one seems to be willing to let us stay. Lets just hope that tomorrow will be better for us." Isis said. She stuck her hand into the burlap bag and gave each of her siblings some fruit and bread to eat. They all ate quietly and when they were about to hide into the alley a little boy about Marik's age came running up to them. Panting upon catching up with them when he stood up. The boy had white hair like the shinigami boy, but his wasn't spiked up and his was much shorter than the shinigami's.

"M-my name is Ryou Touzoku. I can let you stay at my place, if you like." He said smiling. Marik and Mariku smiled immediately and turned to the boy.

"Really?" Marik asked hopefully.

"Hold on, you two," Isis said before kneeling down before the boy. "Where are your parents?" Isis asked the boy. The boy blushed in embarrassment.

"I-I have no parents. They're dead…" Ryou said easily crushing everyone's hopes. If he had no parents than he probably didn't have a place to live and the best they could find is a tool shed in the forest. "But my big brother owns a house just outside of the village! I could take you there and you could stay with us." Ryou said.

The Ishtar's weren't completely hopeful but didn't have much choice either, so they followed the boy to his house. The thing that surprised Marik was that Ryou ran up to another white haired boy- probably his brother- sneaking some food right under a merchant. Ryou told the Ishtar's to hide before running up to his brother after he successfully stole the item and was prepared to run off if it weren't for Ryou catching up to him. Ryou and his brother talked with a few hand gestures aimed to the Ishtar's. It looked like they were arguing, seeing the older one glare at the Ishtar's. Marik noticed that this boy looked almost exactly like Ryou aside from wearing a different kimono than Ryou and his hair being slightly messier than his younger brother's. Not to mention the other boy looked too young to be able to own a place of his own. Maybe Ryou had another "older brother". Finally the two boys came to a conclusion and ran up to the Ishtar's.

"Follow me." The older boy said before leading them outside of the village. The siblings followed the boys until it got dark enough that they couldn't see in front of them. Marik felt a hand grab his own and he jumped having not seen who's hand was grabbing his own.

"We're going to have to hold hands together too our place since it's so dark." Ryou said. Marik nodded before grabbing Mariku's hand, and Mariku grabbed onto one of the other siblings hands.

"I wish I would've brought a lamp with me if I knew we were going to be out this late. And what's Akefia going to think when he sees a group of strangers at the front door? I swear Ryou, you are too nice for your own good." The older one spoke. Before Ryou could say anything it was Marik that spoke on his behalf.

"Well excuse him for doing a favor for us! No one would let us stay in their houses or Inn's and we were just about to sleep in an alley if it weren't for him. Not to mention that we just moved here from the human world!" Marik yelled at the older boy. He heard the other boy chuckle in a way so dark he almost mistook it for Mariku's normal laugh.

"Yes, I heard all about you. The whole district knows about you. The band of siblings that just got here and have been receiving charity left and right for food and clothes. You do know that only lasts for a day and that tomorrow you're all going to have to get jobs to be able to afford things like that." He said.

"How do you know about that?" Marik asked angrily.

"Because it happens to everyone that moves into Soul Society. You only get one days worth of free food, clothes and shelter but by the next day you have to live like us and start getting a job to pay for rent for the house you live in." It was Ryou's voice that spoke through the darkness.

"That's not what the shinigami told us!" Mariku shouted.

"That's because it's their job to sugar coat everything, even for people like you that just moved here." It was the older boy this time.

"And what do you mean by a free night living in shelter? No one would let us inside there homes." Isis said.

"Maybe it's because of your skin. There aren't enough dark colored people in Soul Society to begin with, so their instant reaction is to be cautious of you people. Don't worry, all the people tomorrow will get lectured by the shinigami about refusing to let you stay. But for now stay out of that village, got it?" It was the older boy again.

After that they continued to walk in silence until they could see a bright light at the end of the path. For a minute it felt like the kind of path to the after life Marik was expecting if it not were for the fact that he could still feel the grass and the dirt beneath his feet. After a few more minutes the light grew wider and a house began to appear. It wasn't a normal house that Marik was used to. His whole life living inside a tomb, and going into other people's houses to watch TV had Marik think that the houses here would be underground hideouts or average houses that Marik saw during his adventures in the surface. This house was different. It had paper doors and wooden walls. There were no brick were aluminum walls. Finally they all didn't need to hold hands to find their way to the house as they could see the house clearly enough to make their own way. They all ran up to the door and before they could go inside the older boy stopped them saying they needed to take off their shoes before stepping inside.

"Why?" Mariku asked.

Back in Egypt it wasn't forbidden to _not_ where shoes inside the tomb. Marik even took a habit of wearing shoes at all times, thanks to a cobra that bit him when he was seven. After that Marik developed a fear of snakes and wore shoes around the tomb in case another snake tried to bite him. But Marik had a feeling that a snake wouldn't hide in a place like this so he and his family all took off their shoes and stepped inside of the house. Ryou and his brother grabbed their shoes and put them to the side of the door before stepping inside themselves.

"Akefia, we got some guests here!" The older boy called out.

Ryou told the Ishtar's to step into the living room while he gets his older brother and younger sister out. The Ishtar's sat in the living room on their knees and waited a few minutes until Ryou came back with the rest of his siblings including his twin. The oldest one didn't look like he could possibly be related to them aside from the white messy hair that matched Ryou's older brother. The youngest was a girl around the age of six. She was holding Ryou's and her older brother's hand. Ryou was the first to introduce everyone.

"This is my sister Amane, my older step brother Akefia, and my twin Bakura." Ryou said pointing to the objective people. Marik's eyes widened. This family was just like his family! They both have twins, a sister, and an older step brother! This was getting weird for Marik.

"My name is Isis, this is my older step brother Rishid, and my younger twin brother's Marik and Mariku. Thank you for allowing us to stay here." Isis said bowing politely.

"Yeah, I heard all about you. You just got here from the human world and Ryou couldn't stand the sight of seeing you all spend your first night homeless so he brought you all here. Personally I could care less. We have plenty rooms in this house so feel free to stay as long as you'd like." Akefia said. The Ishtar's smiled happily about this while the Touzoku's shared different reactions. Bakura looked at Akefia completely taken by surprise while Ryou was smiling at his older brother's kindness. Amane was busy fiddling with a loose string on her kimono.

"Akefia, are you crazy? We don't know these people! Their complete strangers and you let them _stay_ in our house?" Bakura stood up shouting. Akefia smiled casually at his younger brother.

"Well, who knows? This could be fun. Not to mention there's finally people that have my skin color." Akefia said. Marik smiled. _Maybe this guy understands what it's like to be different_?

"Yeah but we don't know what these people are capable of! They could steal from us!" Bakura shouted. Akefia smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"You mean more so than you?" Akefia asked and just like that the argument was over. Ryou got up and walked over to the door.

"I could show you to your rooms. Bakura could you get them the extra mattresses and blankets?" Ryou asked. Bakura growled under his breath but accepted the task without a word. Ryou led them down a series of hall ways until he stopped at a sliding door and opened it. "This can be Marik's and Mariku's room." Ryou said leaving the door open for the twins and going down to another door for the older siblings.

Marik and Mariku stepped into the room and took a look around. There wasn't much in the room besides a closet, a window, and a dresser. Bakura stepped in after them with Amane behind him and rolled out the mattresses out into the center of the floor. Amane handed each of the twins a thick blanket.

"He'e you go. Sweep well!" She said giving them a toothy smile.

"Ryou will wake you in the morning for breakfast." Bakura said turning to leave.

"Wait, tell him that my family only eat fruit, bread, and vegetables. We don't eat any kind of meat." Marik said. Bakura stopped halfway out the room pausing for a moment.

"I'll be sure to tell Ryou about that. Just get some sleep. Come here, Amane." Bakura said making a hand gesture to get Amane to leave the room with him. Amane obeyed and waved the boys goodnight before Bakura slammed the door shut. Marik looked at the beds on the floor.

"Well this isn't too bad, I guess. It doesn't look like the kind of beds we were used to back home but it's still a bed." Marik said folding up the blanket and laying down on it.

"I just wonder why people here have to sleep on the floor. And where's the pillows?" Mariku asked sitting on top of his bed.

Marik got up off the bed and went to the closet looking for any pillows. Thankfully there were up to four pillows on a shelf in the closet. Marik grabbed two for him and his brother and laid the pillow down on the mattress and went back to laying under the blanket. His brother did the same and rolled over on his side and looked at Marik.

"Aren't you glad that I found those people back in the human world? If it weren't for me all of you would've turned into hollows back there in the tomb," Mariku said smirking. Marik rolled over on his side facing his brother also.

"Have you ever seen a hollow while you were away?" Marik asked. His brother shook his head.

"What about you? You've been dead longer than us, so I thought you would've seen one," Mariku said. Marik shook his head.

"No. Don't get me wrong I have gone to the surface several times but that was only at night. During the day I was in the tomb watching over you guys." Marik said leaving out the part that he was mostly watching his twin after his death. Mariku chuckled lightly.

"How sweet. I feel like I should acknowledge you as my guardian angel." Mariku teased. Marik smiled.

"Well sort of. Anyway we should get some sleep." Marik said getting up to turn off the lights looking for a candle or a torch but when he found neither Mariku himself got up to look for anything to help turn off the lights. It got to the point that they were looking all over the walls to find something to turn off the lights and eventually Bakura came in to check on them and raised an eyebrow at both of the boys.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Bakura asked. Both the boys froze and looked at Bakura completely embarrassed.

"Uh, well… We're trying to find a way to turn off the lights but we can't find anything." Marik spoke awkwardly. Bakura looked at the both of them like they were both idiots and moved his hand up to a small switch and flicked it causing the lights to turn off. Both the boys flinched in surprise having not seen anything like that before. Bakura turned on the lights again.

"This is called a 'light switch'. You flick it on or off whenever you want, got it?" Bakura explained slowly turning the lights on and off while he spoke. Marik rolled his eyes and Mariku glared at Bakura crossing his arms.

"We've never seen a light switch before so excuse us for being a little outdated." Marik said placing his hands on his hips.

"Where are you guys from anyway? I can tell your from the human world but _where_ in the human world?" Bakura asked genuinely curious.

"We were from an ancient Pharaoh's tomb back in Egypt. We grew up there all our lives and the only sources of light were candles and torches." Marik explained. Bakura looked a bit surprised to find out how outdated his new roommates were.

"Wow a tomb? What were you a member of some cult?" Bakura asked. Marik laughed a little thinking the whole thing silly himself. Especially since he ventured to the surface numerous times and found the lifestyle of many of the people outside the tomb so much more different than his. No one lived in tombs; people lived in houses and had TV's, and light bulbs, and cars, and so much more technology that Marik had never seen in his life.

"Well no. Our family believed that the Pharaoh would one day come back and we stayed in the tomb waiting for him to arrive." Marik said telling the story like he was just telling a kid a bed time story. Bakura smirked.

"You do know that the dead never come back, right? And that your family had spent up to a couple thousand years under ground for nothing?" Bakura asked mockingly. Marik frowned.

"It was a tradition I was forced into and it caused my death." Marik spat venomously. Marik knew more than anyone how much of a waist of time it was but having someone disrespect his family made Marik's blood boil. Bakura frowned.

"I do apologize for the cause of your death but since it is none of my business, I'm afraid that I just don't care. Good night!" Bakura said with a mocking smile on his face before closing the door on them. Marik stuck out his tongue at the door as if Bakura would see through the thin door and stormed off to bed. Mariku went over and turned off the lights before going into bed himself.

"Good night, brother."

_**This is the first chapter and I hope you all enjoyed it. I got like seven more chapters to this and I'll be able to update whenever I get the chance. I don't have internet at home but Echo Song Smith does so I'll go to his place when he's not busy. Another not is that I'll baby sit my second cousin and her parents have internet so I'll update over there too ^^**_

_**Please review and enjoy all that we give you!**_

_**Disclaimer- We don't own Bleach or Yu-gi-oh!**_


	2. The Afterlife

_**Note: Hey, iPanda here. Lol you wanna know what motivated me to write a bleach/yugioh crossover fanfic? My friend Echo Song Smith who wrote Gaara's Song happened to be a bigger fan of Naruto and Bleach but still like Marik and Bakura so I thought I could write something for him because he's just a good friend to me. I know stuff like this don't get popular very often but it doesn't matter to me. As long as Echo likes it I'm happy :D**_

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh or Bleach**_

Going to sleep for the first time in a year was a major relief for Marik. For some unknown reason, Marik could never find himself getting tired as a ghost in the human world. Maybe it was the only perks to being dead, or that a wandering soul didn't need rest as it is too busy trying to find it's place in the world. Marik could never find the answer to why he could never sleep but it didn't bother him as much as the chains and not being able to move on did. In a way it benefited Marik more because he was watching his family in the day and ventured to the surface at night. And the day before, since arriving to Soul Society, Marik found himself growing more and more tired as the sun began to set and day turned into night. It was a relief that Ryou showed up when he did otherwise Marik would have experienced his first actual sleep on the cold hard ground and not on a mattress in a warm home. And another bonus was that Marik could dream again.

He dreamed that he was happy, that he was with his family and they were having a meal together. Their was no concern over the tomb keeper's initiation or any worry about Mariku's sanity. It was just them having a good time. Rishid played soccer on the surface with him and Mariku, and at the end of the day Isis served them their favorite food. At bed time, Isis tucked them into bed and read their favorite story. Ironically when Marik closed his eyes in his dream he opened them in real life. Amane was the one waking him up.

"Come on! It's time for bwekfast!" She said shoving Marik's arm roughly. Guess Marik was still tired from yesterday.

Marik slowly pulled himself out of bed and stretched his muscles. His body ached a little from moving around so much and he wished he could've stayed in bed longer. Marik staggered to the paper door like a drunken fool and steadied himself on the wall to get his focus back and when his eyes finally stopped seeing white spots in front of his face Marik finally walked calmly down to where the living room was. Unfortunately, last night Ryou didn't have any time to show them around the house and only got the chance to get the exhausted Ishtar's to bed. Hopefully today would be a better chance to get a look around the house after breakfast. Marik stood dumbly in the door way to the living room and walked around the room hoping to find a door to the kitchen or at least follow the scent of cooked food. Which is what he did. He followed the scent of what smelled like sweet and spicy food cooking and Marik felt his stomach rumble with hunger and followed the scent trail where it led to what looked like the dining room as Rishid, Isis, Akefia, Bakura, and Ryou were all sitting at the table waiting patiently for the rest of the group to show up. Bakura looked up from the table and narrowed his eyes.

"About time you showed up for breakfast." He sneered. Marik glared at the boy.

"Pardon my manners, but Ryou forgot to give us a tour of the house." Marik said sitting down next to Rishid. Ryou's eyes widened in shock and bopped himself on the forehead.

"_That's _what I forgot to do last night! Oh, Marik-san, I'm so sorry!" Ryou said bowing his head down in forgiveness. Marik was taken aback by the sudden kindness seeing as he almost mistook Ryou for Bakura.

"No, it's fine, really. Thank you for letting us stay here, by the way. It means a lot." Marik said smiling bringing the flustered boy back up to his attention and smiling widely.

"By the way," Marik started. "How did you two find your way into the dining room?" Marik asked his two older siblings. Isis spoke first.

"Akefia, and Ryou showed us the way to the dining room." She said. Bakura leaned forward with his head resting on his palm and his elbow on the table.

"I guess Amane was too busy waking up your twin to show you to the table." Bakura said mockingly. Marik glared at the other boy.

"At least I found my way here to the table without anyone's help." Marik spat venomously. Bakura shrugged with that mocking smirk still creased onto his lips.

"Good for you. Maybe today you could find your way to the bathroom without digging up a hole in the backyard." Bakura mocked. Marik could feel his face heat up in frustration.

"And I hope that this world doesn't have as many annoying jerks like you." Marik spat. Bakura's smirk seemed to widen into a small grin.

"I take that as a compliment you know." He said. Marik was about to tell the other boy off when Amane and Mariku walked in.

"I bwought Mawiku over. Can we eat now?" Amane asked oblivious to the strong tension in the air and the glare's Bakura and Marik were giving each other and the already exhausted looks on Isis, Rishid, and Ryou. Akefia on the other hand thought the whole quarrel was amusing.

"Yes, Amane. We can finally eat breakfast." Akefia said sitting up the young girl onto his lap and giving her a small ball of rice.

"Bakura told me that your family are vegetarian so I prepared some dishes for you." Ryou said pointing over to the platters of fruit salad, rice, and some vegetables. Most of which the Ishtar's haven't seen.

But they trusted Ryou seeing as he went through all the trouble of preparing a meal for them. Marik on the other hand couldn't believe that Bakura would go to Ryou about this. He thought for sure Bakura would tell Ryou to cook an all meat dish for them just to spite Marik but he supposed that Bakura would be getting onto the entire family's bad side if he were to do that. Marik shrugged mentally to himself and brought over a bowl of fruit over to him. He looked around for any silver wear but all he saw was empty plates, food, and a pair of sticks to his left. Marik picked up the wooden sticks and held it in front of his face. Bakura looked over to see Marik staring at the chop sticks and snickered to himself.

"What you've never used chop sticks before?" He asked. Marik looked over and shook his head.

"Unlike you people, back where I was from we ate food with a fancy piece of utensils called 'silver wear'." Marik said smirking. Bakura rolled his eyes dismissively.

"Well this isn't the human world, Marik. This is Soul Society, and I'm afraid there are some things that you are going to have to get used too if you plan on staying here. Learning how to eat food with chopstick is one of them." Bakura said waving his own chopsticks around for emphasis. Marik glared at the boy for yet again winning another argument.

"Well how the heck am I supposed to use two pieces of wood for eating my food, huh?" Marik said raising his voice just above the comfort zone. Isis glared at him making Marik submit quickly. When father wasn't around it was usually Isis that disciplined the two boys. Bakura and the other Touzoku's on the other hand didn't seem bothered by the outburst.

"You hold it like this, Marik." Bakura said holding up the chopsticks the way he did before. Marik tried doing the same thing but ended up making the two stick stand the wrong way in his hand. Bakura sighed and got off of his seat to and went over to where Marik was making Rishid scoot away from the two boys. Bakura held up the chopsticks again in front of Marik.

"Hold it like this, Marik." He repeated. Marik tried again and this time he got it half way right but Bakura was still unimpressed. "No, Marik. Watch my fingers. Look closely and try to get it right, okay?" Bakura instructed again. Marik looked at Bakura's right hand and saw the way he gently held the two sticks between his thumb and index finger. Marik mimicked the same gesture finally gaining Bakura's approval.

"Good. Now try to eat it like this." Bakura said slowly grabbing a piece of watermelon from Marik's dish and bringing it up into his mouth. Marik was about to object to Bakura stealing his food but when he noticed Bakura's expectant gaze, still waiting for Marik to do as he was told Marik swallowed his pride and mimicked Bakura again but accidentally making a grape slip out of the chopsticks.

"Almost, but not quite. You can't put too much pressure on the food or else that's going to happen _a lot_. Now try again but this time let your index and middle finger do the work. Remember the thumb is to help hold the food and the index and middle finger help to grab and hold the food, got it?" Bakura asked finishing his explanation. Marik was taken by surprise by Bakura's sudden gesture of kindness but did as he was told and this time got an orange wedge to go into his mouth. Bakura smiled like a proud teacher at this.

"That's good. Now keep using that technique over and over and you would have gotten it right." Bakura said. Marik looked at Bakura trying to read his facial expression to find anything suspicious but it looked like the boy was actually serious. Marik's face heated up at his kind smile.

"Um, thank you." Marik said going back to his food. Bakura went back to his spot and ate his food like nothing happened. Marik looked around and saw that his siblings were eating food like the way Bakura had showed him. He also noticed that Ryou and Akefia were exchanging awkward glances to each other clearly surprised as well by Bakura's sudden lesson for Marik. Amane on the other hand paid no mind to it and reached over to drink her tea.

"So would you guys mind if we showed you around the house after breakfast? I feel bad for not doing so last night so after we clean up I can show you around the house and yard." Ryou said cheerfully, quickly changing the tension in the atmosphere.

"Oh, yes that would be great. Thank you." Isis smiled.

After that, the entire breakfast was eaten with silence aside from occasional conversation with Marik's older siblings with Ryou and Akefia. Bakura didn't speak much after teaching Marik how to properly use chopsticks and Marik was grateful for that. Whenever Bakura spoke it was to irritate Marik. But a few minutes ago Bakura had a sudden change of heart for Marik and helped him out with the chopsticks. Maybe Bakura had a reason for helping him out. Probably something along the lines of "I just didn't want to watch a fool like you fumble over food, that's all". Whatever the reason, Marik didn't feel like speaking to Bakura either. For the matter Mariku didn't speak much either. He just ate his food and glanced over at the Touzoku's occasionally. Akefia looked over at Mariku and smirked.

"What the matter, kid? Cat got your tongue?" He asked in an almost teasing voice. Mariku looked over at Akefia with an indifferent gaze..

"I was just thinking." He said putting his bowl down.

"About what?" Akefia asked slightly curious.

"Well, the shinigami said that once we arrived here things would be much easier for us. But then all of you say that there are apparently regulations to living in the Soul Society. And now I'm thinking that we just got suckered into coming here and just living a normal life like everyone else and not having the 'spa treatment' I was told." Mariku said. And it was true too. All of them thought the same thing when they arrived. The only bonus for Marik was that he got to live in the surface like a normal person now.

"Well think of it this way; Shinigami sugar coat everything for wandering souls and us rukangai residents because they don't want us to worry about how average it is to be a loser like us. They say that they'll protect us, and that they'll give us all the food and shelter we need to survive the harsh elements, and for awhile they do help us out but after a few days we have to watch our own backs. But to tell you the truth, it's the shinigami that get the 'spa treatment' not us. They live the life of luxury while we have to buy our own food, clothes, and fire wood, while they get to have their own place to stay and the only thing they to do is kill hollows, and protect the humans, and spirits that live in the human world and in rukangai." Akefia explained and in that moment, all the Ishtar's realized how lucky a shinigami is and how pathetic their life is now that they have to work for everything just to live. Back home they had the luxury of being born into the Ishtar clan and having everyone work for them and not the other way around.

"Akefia wants to become a shinigami one day." Ryou said drawing everyone's attention to him now.

"He said that he doesn't want to live this way and wants to become a shinigami because of it." Ryou explained. Isis turned to Akefia.

"When do you plan on becoming a shinigami?" She asked.

"In a few years. It'd be reckless of me to leave Amane alone with these boys." Akefia smirked and winked at his little sister who giggled.

"I wouldn't mind becoming a shinigami one day." Marik admitted. Everyone turned to him.

"It's very rare for spirits that arrived from the human world to become a shinigami." Bakura said matter of fact.

"Only spirits that have reiatsu can become shinigami." Ryou said.

"What's reiatsu?" Mariku asked.

"_Reiatsu_, also translated as '_spiritual pressure' _is basically the power that shinigami have or the essence of a spirit that gives them their strength. If you run out of reiatsu it's possible you could die or you need to recover by resting and eating enough food that could get your strength back up. _Everyone _has reiatsu." Ryou explained.

"But what about us? I don't even know how to feel reiatsu, so how can I become a shinigami?" Marik asked genuinely intrigued with this talk about shinigami and reiatsu.

"That's something that must be taught to you at Shinigami Academy. Among other things you learn how to control your reiatsu, and get your own zanpakuto." Ryou said. Hearing the word "zanpakuto" brought Marik back to the moment when the shinigami sent them to Soul Society.

"That's their sword, isn't it?" Marik asked. Ryou nodded.

"I was told that gaining a zanpakuto is a right of passage for shinigami graduates. You have to get in touch with your inner spirit and there you would learn the name of your zanpakuto and even gain the sword itself." Ryou continued.

"So in other words, getting a zanpakuto isn't like winning the lottery or even picking up a random sword and writing your name on it, is it?" Mariku asked.

"Each zanpakuto is unique and has it's own strengths and weaknesses. In a way, a zanpakuto is an extension of yourself; your personality. Except you are it's master and the sword is your servant willing to do what it's asked in battle." Ryou said.

This made Marik more determined to become a shinigami. Not just for a better life but to actually have some purpose in his life. Before, the only purpose Marik had was to live in a tomb for the rest of his life to protect the pharaoh's tomb. It wasn't something that Marik had volunteered for either. It was his destiny to become a tombkeeper and whether he liked it or not his father made that very clear that he was in fact becoming a member of the tombkeepers. But now Marik can become something more than that. He can become a shinigami and it would be his dream too. It would be a more exciting life than what he was forced into and Marik can actually have fun with it too. He can fight hollows and save people. He could finally get his wish and be what he wanted to be without anyone telling him it's wrong or that it was futile. In this world he was free and he wanted to use it as well as he could and all of his wishes could come true. That is if genies really did exist. But now Marik banished all doubts from his mind. He _will_ become a shinigami. He knew it would happen.

After breakfast Isis helped Ryou and Amane with cleaning the dishes while Bakura showed Marik and Mariku around the house while Akefia showed Risihid around the yard. Bakura basically showed the boys the interior of the house and where all the rooms were. Bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms, and such. Then Bakura took the boys to the backyard and showed them around the forest. He showed them a few paths that could lead them to several nearby villages which was in a way essential so they could have a wider variety of shops to go to. Or as Marik noted: less trouble for Bakura if he decides to steal again. Then Bakura showed them to a river where they get their water and then showed them to a hot spring that was just about four meters away from the house. According to Bakura a hot spring is a place where people usually bathe in or want to relax. Marik couldn't understand how people could bathe outside or where all the water came from to form it so he voiced his thoughts aloud.

"I don't get it. Why would people bathe in the middle of a forest?" Marik asked. Bakura shrugged.

"Some people don't mind showing a little skin when their outside taking a hot bath. But if you're self-conscious then there's plenty of towels to use just for an occasion." That raised another question.

"Why would people dip into a hot spring with a towel wrapped around their waist? Call me old fashioned, but that's just weird." Marik said. Bakura smirked.

"Hey like I said, some people don't mind going into an open hot spring naked, and some don't want to flash anybody in case a person comes over. Their's always a reason for something, Marik." Bakura said smirking arrogantly. Marik rolled his eyes.

"Where does all this water come from anyway?" Marik asked.

"It's a dug up spring. The heat comes from underground magma so the water is naturally heated. No need for electricity or gas here." Bakura said.

"Underground magma?" Marik questioned.

"Don't worry it's safe. The magma is so deep under ground that the only danger it causes is to the earthworms." Bakura said. Mariku nodded understanding a little but Marik didn't quite understand what "magma" was but chose not to question it, in case it caused another banter with Bakura.

"Is there another one around the area?" Mariku asked.

"Yeah but they're all private owned. This one just so happened to be the Touzoku's own personal hot spring. It's a memento from my parents." Bakura said.

"You're rich? Then why would you steal?" Marik asked.

"First of all, I'm not _that_ rich. My father and mother were once shinigami themselves and that house we live in was basically a summer home until they died. And in the will they gave us that house and this hot spring as personal property. They also gave us a lot of money left over but even that's gonna last us for so long so sometimes I'd go into one of the villages down these paths and take something like food, or toys for Amane." Bakura explained.

Marik never saw Bakura as the type to be afraid of the inevitable. Marik was when he was alive. The initiation scared him to the very core every time his family mentioned it to him. And here Bakura is afraid of losing money so he steals from people in case they did get broke. This seemed almost too ridiculous to even think.

"Do you plan on becoming a shinigami, Bakura?" Marik asked. Bakura looked at Marik with all the seriousness that Marik has ever seen from the boy so far.

"Yes. One day I want to leave the rukangai and become a shinigami. I never want to live in this place for as long as I live." Bakura said.

"Then why don't you become one?" Marik asked.

"Sometimes there's an age illegibility to attend Shinigami Academy, but if you suddenly develop strong reiatsu you can sign up regardless of age." Bakura said. That brought another question to Marik's mind.

"How old are you?" Marik asked. Bakura smirked.

"Older than you, that's for sure." Bakura said moving away from the hot spring and back into the forest.

"How old do you have to be to attend Shinigami Acedemy?" Marik persisted stepping in front of Bakura. The boy gave him an indifferent look.

"You have to be over a hundred years old to attend unless you got strong reiatsu." Bakura said. Marik felt his jaw drop. He was only eleven years old! And he had to be over a hundred to attend that school?

"How old are you, Bakura?" Marik asked completely in shock. Bakura smirked.

"Just so you know age isn't that much of a big deal in Soul Society like the way it was back in the human world. A hundred years of age in the human world is like a year to us in Soul Society. So quit fussing about my age, got it?" Bakura snapped making Marik shut his mouth. So people do age but really slowly. Well that is another perk to living in Soul Society Marik supposed.

"So does that mean that you don't celebrate birthdays?" Marik asked. Bakura's nose crinkled upwards like he just got asked the dumbest question in the history of questions.

"Just because age doesn't matter doesn't mean that birthday's are useless. People still go crazy over those, Marik." Bakura said looking like he was about to bust out laughing.

"So when is you're birthday?" Marik asked.

"Same birthday as Ryou's."

"When is it?"

"None of your business." Bakura said smirking and continued walking away from the hot spring and back to the house.

"Wait if your parents were shinigami, then does that mean you and your siblings were born here in Soul Society?" Marik asked catching up to him.

"Yes we are native residents to Soul Society. What of it?" Bakura asked not turning around to continue his conversation. He simply saw the whole thing ridiculous and didn't have the patience for Marik's current pop quiz.

"But I thought all people here were dead." Marik asked.

"The same way people age here, the same way people still have children. In other words people here are practically immortal humans." Bakura said still walking.

"But you said your parents died. How can people die in Soul Society if it's a place where spirits go to live?" Marik asked and this time Bakura stopped walking. Marik looked over his shoulder and saw that his brother had followed them and was listening to the entire conversation. Marik looked back to Bakura who was standing there quietly. Something told Marik that he shouldn't have asked that.

"I said that people were like immortal humans, right? Well even people die here. Even the best shinigami can lose their life to anything possible. Like getting killed in battle by a hollow, or being poisoned, or even being killed by your own comrades. Anything is possible here even for a spirit. But fortunately our bodies are much stronger than human's so spirits and shinigami don't die as easily as human's." Bakura said and without another word he continued his way back to the house. And Marik and Mariku did too.

All three of the boys walked in silence and Marik chose to not ask another question to Bakura for the rest of the day. He was afraid of getting too personal with Bakura so Marik chose not to talk to Bakura for the rest of the day even if he had another question about how things worked in Soul Society. Instead he decided to keep his mouth shut and assisted Ryou in the chores like cleaning up the laundry. They sat by the river with a basket full of clothes, a few bars of detergent, a washboard and some clothes pins to hang up the clothes once they finished cleaning when they were done. Ryou had to show poor Marik how to clean clothes and how to properly use a washboard but the two turned into a pretty good team.

"You know, Marik-san, I'm really glad you volunteered to clean the laundry. Bakura would help me but he hates doing chores." Ryou said with a smile. Marik smiled back.

"Sure thing. Thanks for showing me _how_ to wash clothes." Marik said laughing a little. Ryou laughed with him.

"It's no problem. And I'm glad you guys already had some food and clothes with you when I came in to help you. It saves me trouble for having to buy you some spare clothes or buying some more fruits and vegetables for you. I never knew an entire family that never eat meat before so you bringing in some extra food was a real help." Ryou said with a smile. Marik couldn't help but smile back. Unlike Bakura, Ryou was indeed the friendliest and was much easier to talk too.

"Oh, it's no problem. We thought we were gonna find a place to stay so you really helped us out in letting us live with you." Marik said.

"Stay as long as you like. That house is ours forever, and we won't have to worry about rent or mortgage, 'cause that was already taken care of by my parents." Ryou smiled. Marik faltered for a moment at the mention of Ryou's parents. Ryou noticed this even when Marik tried to cover it up. "Bakura told you what happened to our parents didn't he…?" Ryou asked quietly. Marik stiffened.

"I had no idea…" Marik whispered. Ryou put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

"That happened a long time ago. Bakura and I were about Amane's age while she was only a baby back then. She has no memory of our parents, but me Akefia, and Bakura all remember them too well." Ryou said quietly looking down sadly at the river. Marik didn't want to ask this but he needed to know at the same time.

"What happened…?" Marik asked quietly hoping Ryou wouldn't here him but the boy did.

"They were on a mission in the human world. They had a standard mission back then… Just keeping an eye on a town because there were violent hollows in the area. But there were too many of them and it was just mom and dad… they were surrounded… And a few days later a shinigami came over with their uniform and told us the worst… their was blood on the clothes…" Ryou began to murmur and it was then that Marik didn't want to here anymore and grabbed Ryou and embraced him.

Marik didn't hug anyone but his family and even then it was extremely rare. Usually it was Isis that hugged him and their siblings but right now Marik didn't want to see Ryou cry over the loss of his parents. He could tell that even though it happened when they were younger the memory was still fresh in his mind. And perhaps that was the reason why Bakura was so sad earlier. Maybe Bakura still remembered the day when he received the news that his parents died in battle. It saddened Marik as it reminded him of the day when he died and saw how distraught his family were. How Mariku cried, his father holding onto his body, Isis sobbing heavily and Rishid doing his best to keep things under control. The thought almost made Marik cry himself. A year has passed since his death and even now Marik wanted to cry. But he wouldn't let himself cry. Not anymore. If he wanted to become a shinigami he had to get strong and that included in holding back his grief and letting go of the memories of his past and forgetting entirely of his mortal life. His human life was the worst existence he ever had. Now in Soul Society he had a chance to start a new life with his family. After Ryou stopped shuddering and sobbing into his chest he pulled away from Marik and wiped any remaining tears he had left and smiled.

"Thank you, Marik-san." Ryou said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. I was just curious." Marik said and Ryou shook his head.

"No need to worry. Everything is okay now." Ryou said clearly trying to be strong. He bent down to continue washing a kimono.

"Hey, Ryou. Do you plan on becoming a shinigami too?" Marik asked looking down at the river. At his peripheral he could see Ryou pause for a moment before answering.

"I would like to become a shinigami one day. But I'm not sure about my reiatsu..." Ryou murmured.

"Well then you just have to practice that's all. Like you said, if you join Shinigami Academy you can learn how to control reiatsu, right?" Marik said confidently.

"Yeah but what if they refuse me…?" Ryou asked quietly.

"Then you just have to try harder next time. I mean I want to become a shinigami too, so if I could do it then you can too." Marik said with a smile. He knew that little by little he was making Ryou more confident in himself. Ryou smiled.

"You're right. I just have to train harder and hone my skills better and maybe I could become like Bakura one day and be as strong as him." Ryou said with the biggest smile on his face. After that the boys continued the laundry in silence but the tension in the air wasn't nearly as heavy as it was before and Marik was glad about that.

Most of the following days were spent getting to know each other. Mariku and Bakura get along pretty well considering Bakura objected to the Ishtar's staying there on the first day. Rishid and Isis have been getting along well with Akefia, Ryou and Amane. Since Isis and Rishid pretty much raised Marik and Mariku they know how to treat younger children unlike the twins who try to hold back from telling Amane to leave them alone. Marik all the while actually gets along with Akefia and Ryou. Ryou is simply too kind to hate, unlike Bakura, and Akefia seems to be this laid back and caring guy. He doesn't get mad or anything at Marik even when he's asking too many questions like with Bakura. Marik even looks up to Akefia seeing as the older boy is exactly what Marik wants to be. He doesn't even judge Marik for wanting to be a shinigami. He just supports him. And Marik is grateful for that.

Now a whole week has passed since the Ishtar's arrived to Soul Society and since the boys have already ate all the food that Isis brought over it was time to go grocery shopping. Plus Amane has been developing a cold too. Just the other day she started coughing and sneezing and Ryou confirmed that the poor girl has a fever. So they also have to get some medicine as well. They decided to not go to the first village the Ishtar's went through and went to another nearby village that according to Ryou has plenty of the supplies they need for Amane's cold. Right now Marik, Bakura, and Ryou were the ones getting supplies for Amane's medicine while Mariku and Akefia got the food. Rishid and Isis stayed home to watch Amane. On the upside people in this village didn't show any signs of distress to seeing the Ishtar twins, which according to Bakura is because Akefia is friends with some of the people here so they're used to seeing people of darker skin.

"Okay, so we need peppermint herbs for Amane's throat and…" Ryou rambled through the list of supplies for Amane while Marik and Bakura stood their next to a merchant that was selling herbs. The merchant, an elderly man sat behind his table looking clearly bored as Ryou read through the list and checked the table once in awhile to look for the appropriate ingredients. Marik and Bakura would exchange occasional glances too each other but mostly Bakura would be staring at the darker boy. Marik figured that Bakura was just trying to bother him with this staring game and just pretended to be distracted by something else, like looking at the different types of herbs on the table. Marik hadn't seen half of this stuff this man was selling. Some of it seemed familiar to him from when he developed a fever from the cobra bite but everything else was completely foreign.

"Okay, that should be it," Ryou said taking a handful of herbs. "Bakura can you hold out the bag for me while Marik and I get these?" Ryou asked his older brother who obeyed him quietly and held out an empty sack while Ryou and Marik reached out for the herbs. Ryou thanked the man and paid him the money before turning around.

"Okay, lets go look for Akefia and Mariku." Ryou said taking the bag from Bakura. The boys searched around the shops and found Akefia and Mariku standing in front of a man selling some meat.

"Hey, there you guys are." Akefia exchanged a smile with the boys before paying the merchant and stuffing some wrapped up meat into a bag that Mariku was holding.

"We got all of Amane's medicine, right here. We can leave any time now." Ryou said.

"Alright. Hey, why don't we get some lunch before we leave? There's this inn close by that we can have lunch at." Akefia said.

"I could eat." Bakura said and all the other boys nodded in agreement.

"Okay but make sure to keep it a secret with Isis and Amane okay? I'm not sure about Rishid but I'm pretty sure the girls will have my head for having lunch without them." Akefia joked.

And with that the boys went over to the inn to eat lunch in. They all sat in a large booth in the corner and waited for a waitress to come by to take their order. Ryou and Marik chatted while Bakura stared at Marik and occasionally spoke to Mariku and Akefia. The entire room seemed to be packed with people so the boys were expected to wait a while before a waitress could come over and take their order. Fifteen minutes passed and finally a thin looking waitress came over and took their order. She stopped at Ryou who was going to ask for mild curry until a high pitched voice screamed across the inn.

"Look! It's Ukitake-taicho!" A kid screamed. Ryou perked up from the table and Bakura smiled while Marik and Mariku exchanged glances.

"Who's Ukitake-taicho?" Marik asked.

"Oh, he's captain of squad 13. He regularly visits rukangai and plays with the kids and gives them treats." Ryou said with the biggest smile Marik has ever seen.

"He's a kid's favorite." Bakura said. And like that all the boys gave Akefia the puppy eyes before he sighed.

"Fine." And like that all the kids scooted off the booth and ran outside to find this Ukitake-taicho.

Ryou managed to find the said man standing in the center of a group of kids. He had long white hair making Marik think on how many people had white hair in the Soul Society. He wore the same clothes as the shinigami he met before but had a white cloak over his uniform. Marik supposed that this is what marked the shinigami as captains. Ryou and Bakura ran up to the group where Ukitake-taicho was standing while Marik and Mariku slowly walked up to him. Marik was a little nervous about meeting a captain for the first time while Mariku was cautious. He wasn't scared of the man but both of the boys had begun to experienced this incredible pressure weighing heavy on them the closer they got to him till the weaker of the two collapsed from the sheer strength of the pressure. Marik's eye sight went completely black and his whole body felt light. It was like dying again except he wasn't in pain and he wasn't tired. He was just weak compared to this man with reiatsu so strong it made Marik collapse.

"_Marik! Are you alright?"_

Who's voice was that? Ryou's? It definitely wasn't as deep as his brother's or Bakura's voice.

"_What happened to him?"_

"_I don't know! He just fell!"_

That could be Bakura and Mariku talking. It's awfully weird to here Bakura sounding concern for once.

"_Oh, dear. The poor boy. Here let me see him."_

It was a man's voice this time. It didn't sound like Akefia's though. This voice was much softer and gentler. Than things got clearer and brighter. His eyesight was coming back. It started out blurry before his focus returned and Marik was looking up at Ukitake-Taicho. It took a while for Marik to realize the older man was holding him. If it were different Marik would of thought his father was holding him and his family were actually alive. But Marik was still happy to see someone else holding him and examining him in a fatherly way. Not like his father did.

"Are you alright? You're not hurt are you?" The man asked. Marik slowly shook his head.

"No… I just feel weak…" Marik rasped quietly. His body didn't completely gain it's senses back yet and Marik was as he said; still weak. Ukitake smiled apologetically, a look that he would normally see in Ryou or Rishid.

"Sorry. The children here are used to my reiatsu that I don't worry about concealing it but I suppose that was a mistake. I've never met you or your brother before. Are you new to Soul Society?" He asked. Marik nodded.

"They just arrived from the human world a week ago," Ryou said. "He wants to become a shinigami so I thought it would be a good idea if he met you. I guess I wasn't thinking about him collapsing." Ryou said looking at the ground sadly. Bakura put a hand on his back and scratched it comfortingly.

"A shinigami, eh? Well I got some good news for you. People, and even children that collapse from hunger have reiatsu which means that they can actually become shinigami one day." Ukitake said with a smile. Marik could feel his heart beat speed up in joy. So there was hope for him to become a shinigami after all.

"But they were from the human world! Everyone knows that transfer spirits almost never become shinigami! It's a one and million chance!" Bakura shouted angrily. Probably thinking that Marik was being told from a captain that he could become a shinigami set him off. Marik didn't care.

"That's true but even transfer spirits can become shinigami. It's just so rare that people tend to think it's impossible when really, it's not." Ukitake said. Marik looked over at his brother Mariku who was also smiling thinking the same thing. Since Mariku felt the same pressure and nearly collapsed it means that Mariku could also become a shinigami. Marik began to move finally regaining his strength. Ukitake gently put Marik back on the ground and Marik stood up and turned around to Ukitake and bowed lowly.

"Thank you for your help, Ukitake-taicho. I'm sorry for the trouble. I'm sure your very busy." Ryou had been showing Marik and his family some manners to use in this world and one of them was how to give a proper thank you.

"Oh, it's no trouble at all. I am busy but I always have time to visit the children here. Why don't I give you something to make up for you collapsing. I am really sorry about that." Ukitake said and looked through his robe for something before pulling out a small pouch.

"It's full of rock candy. It's from the human world so I'm sure you are familiar with it." Ukitake said giving it to Marik. Marik didn't want to admit about where he was from in the human world but held his tongue and took the pouch thanking him.

"Be sure to share it with your friends, understand?" He said giving a friendly smile before getting up and turning around returning to the circle of children where things resumed like nothing had ever happened.

"Marik, I'm so jealous of you!" Ryou said making Marik turn around questioningly.

"I mean you got to talk to Ukitake-taicho longer than anyone here and to top it off you got candy from him! That means he really likes you, Marik!" Ryou said cheerfully. Marik stared at Ryou quietly not quite understanding what was happening but smiled.

"We should get back to the inn before Akefia gets annoyed." Bakura said. And the boys hurriedly ran back to inn and got back to the booth where Akefia was pretending to be agitated.

"Where'd you guys go to? That was an awful long fan moment with Ukitake-taicho." Akefia said glaring at the boys.

"I collapsed so that's why it took so long." Marik said. Akefia frowned.

"Are you alright now?" He asked and Marik nodded.

"He gave me some candy, too." Marik said with a smile. Akefia smiled back.

"You better share that with us, or I'll bop you on the head." He said with a joking smile. Marik smiled back.

His heart swelled with pride now. Ukitake-taicho actually paid attention to him and gave him some candy. Not to mention that Ukitaki-taicho said that Marik and his brother can become shinigami one day. That was what made Marik even more happy. Now Bakura can finally leave him alone about not becoming a shinigami. Because a captain said it was possible. That is what made Marik so happy for the rest of the day. There was nothing that can let him down now.

Marik stood before the hot spring that same night with a towel wrapped around his waist. He was sure no one would follow him tonight as he asked for permission to be in the hot spring alone. He wanted to be alone for his first dip into the hot spring. He didn't even want Mariku to join him. He just wanted to be by himself as he took his first public bath. Marik was still unsure about taking this outside and even took a bath in the wooden tub for the past few days but for some reason he felt like using the hot spring tonight. There were hanging lights around the hot spring that made it less dark and unnerving for him. He dipped his foot into the water to check the temperature and found it at a comfortable heat. Then he knelt down and dipped his hand into the water waving it through the surface just to be safe. It was a habit Isis got him into whenever she bathed him and Mariku when they were much younger. She would always swish her hand under the water of the tub before letting the boys step in. When Marik found the water to be satisfactory he finally, slowly, dipped into the water. First it was just him sitting on the edge with his legs wading in the water until he finally got his whole body into the water. It was hot but it felt oddly comfortable. The water didn't even burn against his scars which Marik was grateful for. Marik leaned back against the wall of the pool and closed his eyes contently.

"Enjoying the water?" A voice spook from behind him making Marik snap his eyes open and turn around to see Bakura standing behind him with a towel wrapped around his waist. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was looking down at Marik. Marik backed away in surprised.

"What the heck are you doing here? I asked for privacy!" Marik screeched. He didn't mean for his voice to sound high-pitched but Bakura surprised him. Bakura smirked and sat on the edge of the pool with his legs in the water.

"I didn't here about that." Bakura smiled with his head tilted to the left making it look like he was honest about the situation. Marik knew better.

"Yeah right! What are you doing here anyway?" Marik asked gruffly. Bakura gasped pretending to be offended.

"I just wanted to take a bath too, so I thought I'd join you. Where's the problem in that…?" Bakura asked childishly. Marik glared at him.

"You are the last person I'd have a bath with! Just leave me alone." Marik ordered but Bakura stayed and even immersed himself into the water as well further annoying Marik.

"I don't see any problem with sharing a bath with you. I even brought some soap and a change of clothes in case you forgot." Bakura smiled pretending to be friendly. The very fact that Bakura was pretending to be his friend was enough to set Marik off but he had to keep himself under control. Marik just glared at him and waded over to the farthest end of the hot spring, away from Bakura.

"Just what do you want, Bakura? You've been paying me an awful lot of attention, even before we went to the village." Marik said giving Bakura a serious glare. Bakura frowned and sighed.

"I just want to talk to you. There's been something I've been meaning to ask." Bakura said.

"Yeah? And what's that?" Marik asked slightly calmer that Bakura has finally put down his friendly façade.

"What do those scars on your back mean?" He asked bluntly. Marik's eyes widened in complete shock.

"Wh-what…?" He stuttered. Bakura swam a little closer to Marik making the boy shrink in fear.

"I saw a part of the scar sticking out from under your kimono. It looked like a pair of wings. Also Mariku said that he has the exact same scar on his back too but you got yours first. What does it mean?" Bakura asked swimming closer to Marik making him step away from the other boy.

"N-nothing… It's just nothing…" Marik whispered trying to get further away from Bakura but found it very hard. Marik didn't know how to swim so the most he could get out of moving through the water was walking along the bottom. And even that couldn't help him well enough. And before he knew it Bakura was finally in front of him.

"Marik, a scar on a leg from falling on a rock is _nothing._ Those scars on your back are most certainly _not_ nothing. Now tell me how you got those and what it stands for." Bakura ordered. Marik looked away at the boys cold gaze.

"I don't want too…" He murmured. He felt something grip part of his face and was forced to look Bakura in the eye who was glaring at him.

"You have no choice, Marik. If you try to avoid answering me I will drown you here and _now._" Bakura threatened.

And for the first time in a year Marik was forced into something that he wanted to avoid. He never wanted to tell Bakura about him being the heir to the Ishtar clan and he most certainly didn't want to explain the ritual either. Marik had promised himself the day he arrived here that he would leave his past behind and forget about his human existence as it was nothing but hell for him and Marik wanted to start a new life in Soul Society. But here he was explaining to Bakura how he died and it did nothing but hurt him. He felt his chest ache at the memory and the scars burned as he described the pain of having his own father carve a hot blade into his back. Marik forced himself to not cry. He refused to cry. If he cried now it would only show how weak he was in front of Bakura and he wanted to be strong. He didn't want to show any pain or fear and when he finished his story Bakura was quiet for a while looking at the water as if he was thinking before he looked up at Marik and spoke.

"Can I touch it?" He asked. Marik's eyes widened.

"What? Why?" Marik asked trying to remain calm. Bakura frowned but his eyes showed no contempt.

"You don't have too. I just want to see what it looks like." For the second time this week since Bakura had explained the concept of death Marik found that Bakura was sincere about this and meant no harm.

Reluctantly, Marik allowed Bakura to look at his back and to even touch the scars. Both the boys sat on the edge of the pool kneeling on the ground. Marik was sitting on his knees and Bakura was kneeling on one leg lightly touching the carvings on Marik's back. Bakura felt the boy's muscles tense up and the scars bunch up a little as he lightly moved his hand over the wings at the top, then to the pictures of the ancient Egyptian God's, and over the hieroglyphs on every inch of Marik's back before pulling his hand away making the other boy relax visibly. Marik turned to look at Bakura's face, thinking that he could say something rude but the boy said nothing. Marik searched his expression trying to find any kind of disgust in Bakura's face but Bakura looked surprisingly sympathetic. Marik looked down, away from his face.

"You're the first person, besides my family that have seen those carvings…" Marik said. Both the boys were quiet after that until Bakura stood up and finally spoke.

"We should get back home." And they did. They both got dressed and went back to the house without another word. Both the boys were quiet after that and Marik asked to be excused to bed early. Needless to say that Marik's relationship with Bakura had changed dramatically after that. Marik was glad that now Bakura wouldn't be bugging him anymore, but Marik couldn't help but wonder that if Bakura had never seen his scars or if Marik had never told him about it that if their relationship would still stay the same. That if they would still hate each other or if that over time they would become friends without the need for Marik to reveal himself to Bakura. Marik had a feeling that it would not be the case either way. In a way Bakura needed to see the scars and understand Marik more to become his friend. And that was unfortunately necessary for Marik.


	3. The Friends

**This chapter is full of some occasional drama especially concerning Amane and Rishid. Not to mention that Bakura and Marik are slowly befriending each other as they starting to see each other in a new light. Since it's a mix of Bleach I figured to throw in some occasional humor into and some seriousness of course. Enjoy!**

**We don't own Bleach or Yugioh!**

Things haven't been turning out too well for Amane. It seems that she's been going back and forth between healthy and sick. Marik almost expected Bakura to insult him and his family but Ryou claimed that Amane has always been that way even before the Ishtar's arrived. Despite Bakura being civil with Marik the boy remained suspicious of him for safety measures. He wasn't sure when and where Bakura would go back to insulting him so he kept a safe distance from him and stayed close to his siblings and Ryou. Which was unfortunately fruitless as Isis, and Rishid were busy taking care of Amane. Akefia having knowing little about medicine only helped by occasionally bringing in tea or food for not only Amane but for the eldest Ishtar siblings as well. Ryou helped numerous times with the eldest siblings having apparently learned enough about medicine in the Soul Society to help Amane. So in other words Marik, Mariku and Bakura were the only one's left out and had nothing else to do other since they knew nothing of cooking or medicine. Each of them sat on the front porch to the house one day, idly playing with the rocks on the ground or loose wood shavings from the porch. Bakura sat on the dirt idly drawing what looked like a demon into the dirt with his finger. Marik kept a distance from Bakura out of habit now. It's like he's afraid for the other boy to start teasing him, and no doubt that Mariku may join in as well. It never happened before but Marik has seen his younger twin pick on Ryou several times so it wouldn't surprise him if Mariku would start ganging up on him with Bakura. Mariku meanwhile was sketching what looked like an odd looking sword into the ground next to Bakura's demon. Marik never knew his brother would actually draw before. Let alone with a stick unlike Bakura who was now drawing a face onto his demon with his forefinger.

"Hey, when is your birthday by the way, Marik?" Bakura asked suddenly not even looking up from his drawing. Marik turned to Bakura a bit surprised but smirked.

"Same day as Mariku's," Marik smirked repeating the same line Bakura used when he was asked about his birthday on day two of living with the dead. Bakura seemed amused by this as he smiled as well, though it was likely due to him being slightly impressed with how well his drawing was turning out.

"Mine is September 2. Same day as Ryou's birthday." Bakura stated politely further surprising Marik. He never told him his birthday before so why tell it now? Marik sighed wondering what exactly Bakura could be thinking right now. Probably wondering if giving away his birthday could get Marik to tell him his._ Well, nice try! Mariku might as well tell you our birthday instead of me. Hah!_ Marik thought smirking again. But Mariku never said anything about his birthday. Marik sighed giving in.

"Mine and Mariku's birthday are December 23." He said lifelessly. Marik couldn't stand giving in to Bakura, whether it was an argument or the silent treatment he just now received. It frustrated him more than all the insults he could ever get from the pale boy. Bakura smiled.

"That's a few days before Christmas, isn't it?" Bakura asked now drawing wings into his demon.

"What's Christmas?" Mariku asked first. Both of them were equally confused on this thing called "Christmas" having never heard of it before.

"It's a holiday invented in the human world. Though not many people celebrate it here, there are still a few people that moved in from the human world that still hold onto that tradition." Bakura said not looking up. From a distance Marik could see that Bakura was smiling.

"Do you celebrate it too?" Marik asked, curious.

"Yeah. One time our parents came home from the human world with presents on December 25. They said something about wanting to celebrate a festival called Christmas that allows people to give gifts to their loved ones. I thought it was stupid but when I opened my presents I was… happy," Bakura smiled warmly. Maybe Christmas had a special meaning for Bakura.

"I didn't know that. We never knew about Christmas before, up until now." Marik said. Thinking on it now Marik remembered that today is August 25. More than two and a half months since they moved in. And thinking on what Bakura said earlier his and Ryou's birthday was almost ten days away! _Shoot! What if Bakura makes fun of me for not getting him and Ryou a birthday present?!_ Marik thought panicking slightly.

If he knew the boys well enough he would think that Ryou would want candy or a toy for his birthday and Bakura would probably want a knife or a different kimono. The second week of living in Soul Society Marik saw Akefia scolding Bakura for playing with one of the cutting board knives. His siblings may get upset with him and Akefia may think Marik was crazy but it's probably what it would take to keep the twin's happy for one day. But wait why is Marik being concerned about what to get Bakura of all people a present for his birthday? Maybe because he knew Bakura would tell Ryou or Akefia about the scar on his back if he didn't. Bakura may not have blackmailed Marik yet about it now, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before Bakura would force him into becoming his slave.

Marik leaned over to his brother Mariku to ask if he could take a few minutes to speak with Bakura privately when he noticed the drawings from the two boys. Bakura's drawing looked like a scary looking demon with bulky outlines from his finger while Mariku's drawing looked like a huge scabbard with jagged edges.

"Hey what exactly are you two drawing?" Marik asked.

"I'm drawing what my zanpaku-to would look like." Mariku said with an eerie smile on his face.

"I'm drawing Kurayami." Bakura said.

"Wait what's Kurayami?" Marik asked fully curious now.

"Kurayami is the spirit that's been in my dreams for a few years now." Bakura said now gaining the attention of both boys.

"You've been dreaming about that thing for years now?" Marik asked.

"Yeah. It happened a few weeks after my parents death. He came to me in my sleep and said that I had to remember his name. I woke up that morning and ever since then he's been showing up in my sleep. Ryou, and Akefia don't share the same room with me anymore because they see shadows move on the walls whenever I sleep. Amane doesn't know about this so can I trust you two to keep this a secret?" Bakura asked. It bothered Marik to realize that Bakura is already experiencing spiritual activity at his early age but one like Kurayami is one that greatly disturbed Marik further. They both promised to keep it a secret from not only Amane but from Isis and Rishid as well. But one question was left unsaid by Marik himself: Why would Bakura tell him this?

That night while everyone was asleep, Marik made plans to see this _Kurayami_ himself. He just wanted to know what exactly could scare Akefia so greatly that him and Ryou didn't feel safe to sleep in the same room as Bakura. Of course Marik couldn't ask either of them that question. They were all busy with Amane, and Marik felt that it was a subject that neither of them wanted to answer so Marik promised himself to sneak into Bakura's room that night to see what Kurayami was.

Marik waited until his brother was asleep for him to sneak out of their bedroom and quietly walked to where Bakura's room was. It was just two doors away from his own room on the left side of the hallway. Marik peered in through the paper door to see if he could find any moving shadows. Nothing. Bakura probably wasn't even asleep yet so Marik sat across the door leaning against the wall and waited for almost forty-five minutes. Then he stood up and peered through the thin door again and still couldn't find anything. Bakura was probably still awake. Ryou did say that Bakura was a night-owl so it took him much longer than most people to go to sleep. Marik sat back against the wall and waited for almost an hour until he saw something move across the slider door. It happened for an instant but it looked like a black wave across the door. Marik jumped to his feet and without thinking rushed into Bakura's room. Like the boy said earlier that day their were black shadows moving across the walls in the room. But something about these shadows scared him. It was like these shadows were alive. They were all moving independently. Marik ran up to the window and saw that the trees outside could not be responsible for the moving shadows. Their was no wind outside and the trees were all still. Marik turned around and saw the shadows moving closer towards Bakura's sleeping body. Then some of the shadows moved off the floor and leaned over towards Bakura. Marik acted before the shadows could even touch the boy and he barely touched Bakura's shoulder to wake him up when his eyes snapped open and he roughly grabbed onto Marik's shoulders and buried his face into his chest sobbing into Marik's shirt.

Marik had no idea what happened until he felt a harsh grip grab onto his shoulders and something press into his chest. Marik froze thinking that the shadows got him before he could wake Bakura up but then his shirt got wet and he heard restrained sobbing. Slowly Marik looked down and saw white messy hair just beneath his chin. Then it dawned on him. Bakura got scared and grabbed onto Marik thinking he was probably Ryou or Akefia. Maybe even his own _mother._ Slowly Marik lifted his arms and wrapped them around the smaller boy gently. Bakura flinched when Marik place his palms comfortingly on his back but made no movement and only cried a little longer before calming down. He loosened his grip on Marik's shoulders before raising his head from the boy's soaking wet chest and looked at him with fearful eyes. This was the first time Marik had ever seen someone like Bakura look so vulnerable and helpless. The boys tears were now just a trickle compared to before but he was still crying. His nose was running a little too. Before, Marik would have made fun of Bakura for being a cry baby but now wasn't the time. Bakura probably had the worst nightmare ever and Marik was the only one in the room to comfort him. Marik moved his hand from Bakura's back and wiped away the tears with his thumb.

"It's going to be okay. You're safe now." Marik said without thinking. He didn't even know where he was getting this from. Perhaps Isis but he didn't even remember ever having Isis or Rishid comfort him this way in this world. Yes, Marik had indeed successfully erased his mind of his prior existence in the human world. It was better for him this way.

"Marik…? W-what are you doing in here…?" Bakura asked slowly regaining his composure. The boy was giving Marik a suspicious glare now that he was calming down. Marik didn't feel like telling Bakura the truth so went for a believable lie.

"I heard something from your room and went to check it out. When I came in I saw the shadows moving and I went to wake you up." Marik whispered not wanting to wake up anyone else in the house. Bakura seemed to believe Marik and he sighed.

"Sorry that you had to see that. Kurayami was scolding me for telling you and Mariku about him." Bakura said looking away and wiping his nose with his sleeve. _So that's why the shadow's were moving towards him like that._ Marik thought.

"Well, it's okay now. I don't think he'll bother you once you go back to sleep." Marik said slowly moving away from Bakura. The boy must've noticed because he desperately grabbed for Marik's wrist when he was about to stand up. Marik looked down at the boy incredulously. Bakura looked at Marik desperately, like he didn't want him to leave yet.

"Um… Can you stay with me tonight…?" Bakura murmured as if trying to find the right way to say something like that. The old Bakura must be coming back now.

"Um…" Marik wasn't sure what to say. He thought Bakura had finally calmed down. Is Bakura still scared of Kurayami? Marik was equally unsure what to do in a situation such as this, having never stayed in the same room as a another person to keep them company over night. Not to mention this was Bakura. Fearless, arrogant, Bakura wanted Marik to stay in the same room with him tonight?

"It's just a one time thing, in case you're worried that I'd cling onto you like that again." Bakura said narrowing his eyes in a tired glare.

"That's not what I'm thinking. Why would you ask me to sleep with you tonight?" Marik asked. Bakura's face turned a little red and he looked down, completely embarrassed.

"I'm scared that Kurayami would try to hurt me again. So if he finds out that your in the same room as me he won't bother me for the rest of the night." Bakura said looking into Marik's eyes. Marik sighed.

"Fine, but this is the only time I'm doing this for you." Marik said, lifting up Bakura's blanket and curling up next to him.

"And we will never speak about this in the morning, either." Bakura added.

Finally both of the tired boys fell asleep that night and thankfully for the both of them, they woke up just before Ryou went to wake everybody up for breakfast. The strange thing however was that they both found themselves cuddling each other when they woke up. Both of them facing the other boy and holding on to each other. Needless to say that they never spoke about it to anyone. Not even to each other.

"Akefia! Ishis fell!" Amane shrieked from her bedroom.

Lately most of the residents in the house haven't been getting enough to eat because they've been taking care of Amane's illness. Recently, Ryou considered going to a shinigami of the fourth squadron to tend to Amane, but unfortunately that would cost too much money. Despite the Touzoku's already having plenty from their parents they all knew that hiring a skilled shinigami would cost too much and they may end up in debt because of it. So instead they all worked hard to keep Amane healthy and just when she was recovering she screamed from her bedroom that Isis collapsed. Rishid and Akefia were the first to rush in and see Amane trying to wake Isis who was laying face first on the floor. Rishid went to wake Isis up but for some reason Akefia was the one that acted first.

"Hold on! She just collapsed because she hasn't been eating enough. And you know what that means right?" Akefia asked exchanging glances between Rishid and Amane.

"Vat's right! She could have rayatsu just like you, Onii-shan!" Amane spoke first with the biggest smile on her face. Akefia nodded.

"That's right. As a matter of fact, most of us haven't been eating well lately. Here I'll take her to her room. Rishid, can you get her something to eat?" Akefia asked leaning over and coming to pick up Isis bridal style. Rishid nodded and went to the kitchen where Ryou was making a few lunch obentos no doubt for Marik, Bakura, Mariku, and himself. Ryou looked up from the last box he was making and glanced over at Rishid who was rummaging through the pantry.

"Can I help you, Rishid-san?" Ryou asked stopping from his work.

"Isis just collapsed from hunger. I'm getting her some food." Rishid said pulling out some bread and fruit. Ryou smiled.

"That's great that she has someone like you to look after her. And I'm happy that she has reiatsu, too. Marik-san, and Mariku-san have power too. You know I wouldn't be surprised if the whole family had reiatsu!" Ryou said with the biggest grin Rishid had ever seen from the smaller boy. Rishid smiled back even though he felt that he won't be so lucky. After all he wasn't even biologically related to the Ishtar's. Before he was just adopted into the family and when Isis was born he became a servant for the Ishtar's. He was only ten back then but at the same time he was happy to be of some use for the family even if it meant that he couldn't become a real tombkeeper. Rishid had vowed to protect Isis, Marik, and Mariku from the very day they were born and he planned to keep that promise now even in the after life. Rishid had grabbed all the food he needed and went straight to Isis' room where she was laying in bed with Akefia sitting next to her. He looked up when he heard the door open and gently nudged Isis' shoulder to wake her up.

"Hey, Isis. Wake up, honey. We got some food for you." Akefia said.

Everyone noticed the endearing nicknames he would give to the girls in the house. He called Isis and Amane things like "Sweet heart", "Honey", and such all the time. So it didn't bother anyone that he would call them this. Well except for Rishid maybe. He kept quiet about it but really it annoyed him that Akefia would call Isis "honey" at a time like this. Yes, he did have feelings for Isis but feared that he would be rejected since she sees him as her actual brother. If anything Akefia is best suited to the job instead of Rishid, seeing as Akefia isn't her "brother". Rishid sat down next to Isis across from Akefia when she slowly opened her eyes.

"What…happened…?" She asked slowly. Akefia placed her head in his lap and stroked her hair.

"You collapsed from hunger earlier. Don't worry we got some food here for you." Akefia said and reached over for the grapes and pulling off one of the buds and holding it above Isis' mouth. She slowly opened her mouth and let Akefia put the fruit into her mouth and chewed on it slowly.

That was it. Rishid had to leave. This was almost too romantic for him to watch. Akefia feeding a starving Isis some food with her head resting in his lap. Yeah you definitely don't see any chemistry here. Not to mention that the only use Rishid had at the moment was to deliver some food for the poor girl while Akefia took over. Rishid excused himself and went back to Amane's room to look after her while Isis was getting her strength back. Amane was still awake and was sitting patiently on her bed as if waiting for either Rishid or Akefia to come in telling her Isis was alright. Rishid sat down in the corner still brooding. Amane tilted her head to the left confused as to why Rishid would be upset.

"Is Ishis-chan going to be okay?" She asked breaking the silence. Rishid nodded.

"When ah you going to tell her she hash rayatsu?" Amane asked. Rishid shrugged.

"I don't know. I think Akefia may be more suited for that than me. After all he is studying to become a shinigami." Rishid said quietly.

"But yer her older brover. You should tell her." She said stunned by Rishid's statement.

"I am not her _real_ brother. I have no point in telling her of her newfound powers." Rishid stated calmly.

"Yeah but Akefia ishn't my 'real' brother eider but he would tell ush anyding no matter what! If it'sh from our powersh or jush telling ush to be careful when we play, he would be entirely honesht with us! Are you shaying you wouldn't tell yer shtep shister she has powersh at all? Are you shaying you would neveh be honesht with her?" Amane asked raising her eyebrow and tilting her head forward slightly as if expecting Rishid to answer her. As sad as it sounds the child had a point. Akefia may know what to do in this situation for Isis but that's only because he went through it himself and likely had to tell Ryou and Bakura the same thing when they fell from hunger. But if Rishid had any vital importance right now it would be to tell Isis himself that she has powers just like her younger brothers. This could be the one thing he can be good at right now for his younger siblings even if he wasn't related to them. It was his duty to take care of them and he was going to do it no matter what. Looking back at Amane who was still waiting for an answer from him, he smiled and ruffled her hair.

"You should get some sleep."

Rishid sat on the front patio. The sky was turning orange-ish red as the sun slowly began to set. Isis had gone back to sleep after having to eat half her weight in fruit and bread. Rishid told Marik and Mariku what happened to Isis receiving mixed reactions from both boys. Marik was surprised to find out that another sibling had spiritual powers while Mariku was grinning for some odd reason. Bakura over-heard the conversation and surprisingly was happy for them. Rishid couldn't quite place it yet but Marik and Bakura have been getting along surprisingly well recently. They're not just being civil with each other now. They're actually becoming good friends. Which was quite a shock for the other residents having not being told the reason as to why these boys at one minute couldn't stand each other and then now were playing games together. Rishid may never know the true reason to it. But in any case he was definitely happy that they were finally getting along now. The door behind him opened up. Rishid didn't look up but had a feeling who it was. Akefia sat next to him on the front patio with an apple in his hand and was casually biting into it.

"Your gonna tell Isis she has powers, right?" He asked. Rishid turned his head and looked at Akefia surprised. He hadn't told her yet? Even after all the time he spent in there?

"You mean you didn't tell her yet?" Rishid asked incredulously. Akefia shrugged and gave another bite into his apple.

"I think that's your job. After all, you've known her longer than me." Akefia said. Rishid nodded with a slight curving of his lips forming a smile.

"By the way," Akefia started again. "When are you gonna tell her you love her?" Rishid felt his face heat up.

"E-excuse me…?" He asked in surprised. Akefia gave a knowing smirk before biting into the fruit again.

"I've seen the way you look at her. It's not hard to notice." Akefia said through a mouthful of apple. Rishid almost wanted to glare at him for that.

"I would never tell her of such things. My job is to be a servant for Isis-sama, Marik-sama, and Mariku-sama." Rishid stated.

"Yeah I know. You're family adopted you when you were an infant and ever since then you've been working as their slave." Akefia said swallowing his food. Rishid glared at him this time. Akefia shrugged before continuing. "You know that's all in the past now, right? You don't have to keep calling them 'sama' anymore. Hell, you don't even have to be their step brother anymore. You can be your own man and tell Isis how you feel." He said. Rishid looked down at the ground. He was right but it was so hard to change his life even if he didn't have one anymore. He just wanted things to stay the same as before.

"Even so, she would never except me. She's only seen me as her brother all these years. Not as her servant." Rishid said quietly. Akefia bit into his apple again.

"So does that mean you're not going to tell her? Or does that mean you're never going to try?" Akefia asked one more time. Rishid looked up from the ground and looked him in the eyes.

"You can have her." Rishid said. Akefia choked on the apple.

"H-how did you…?" He stammered while coughing. Rishid smirked.

"I've seen the way you look at her."

Things continued like normal after Rishid told Isis she has powers. Her reaction was thankfully less dramatic. She sat there looking at the floor for a few minutes before finally speaking.

"I see…" She murmured quietly. Rishid said nothing. During his times in the human world he learned to speak when spoken too. When speaking out of turn to his master it caused some _painful_ problems. Though he knew Isis, Marik, and Mariku were never like that and that they would never be like that now, it was still better safe than sorry for Rishid.

"I had a feeling… that I would have powers… I just kept telling myself that it wouldn't happen…" Isis said quietly. But Rishid heard her.

"Marik-sama and Mariku-sama, both have powers. It was expected that sooner or later that you would have it too." Rishid said quietly as well. It was like the two of them were trying to keep the conversation a secret.

"Yes, but at the same time I thought I wouldn't have it anyway. I don't know if I was afraid that I would have power much greater than when we were alive or if I was going to become a shinigami when I grew older..." Isis said beginning to trail off.

"You don't have to become shinigami if you don't want to, Isis-sama." Rishid said bowing his head down politely.

"Yes, but what if my power becomes too much for me to handle? Sooner or later I may have to take that step into joining Shinigami Academy," Isis said quietly.

When Rishid lifted his head up he saw that Isis was looking out the window from where she was sitting on the bed. She had woken up quite some time later but Rishid was beside her the whole time. Just like he always did before. When one of the Ishtar's was hurt or sick he would be by there side throughout the whole thing. And when Rishid looked at Isis he saw a look in her eyes that he's never seen before. A look that Rishid never saw in Isis before up until now. A look that spoke determination. And when he saw how strong willed Isis was going to be as soon as she learned to control her powers he knew that Soul Society was becoming a good influence to every single on of the Ishtar siblings.

Isis was going to get stronger. Mariku and Marik were making friends. And Rishid had no one now. His whole life he's been devoted to the tombkeepers; wanting to become one himself. His desire was so great that he carved half his face with a hot blade the memory of the pharaoh the same night Marik was being initiated. It was unfortunate as his attempt was in vain as Marik had sadly died that night. And now that they were all given a future, Rishid couldn't help but yearn for the past again. Sure things were much harder for him but back then he had a purpose. And now, as everyone began setting their own goals for the future, Rishid couldn't help feeling left out once again. He was the only one without powers and like before would be useless to the Ishtar's. Once they became shinigami they would become independent from him and he'd be tossed out like before. But they were already becoming independent now weren't they? The twin's no longer asked for a homemade meal as Ryou tended to that. They didn't ask him to bring them tea or water to drink as Akefia and Bakura would give them that but at the same time the boys had already started getting their own beverages. They didn't ask for a change of clothing or for assistance when they bathed or anything. It was either they did it themselves or the Touzoku's helped them out. And even Isis was becoming independent. Slowly they were drifting away from him, and Rishid did nothing but watch as he became more and more useless. If he had powers, perhaps he could be of some use to his siblings but he didn't. He was utterly worthless and it was a matter of time before they abandoned him the same way his parents did when he was just an infant.

"Rishid, I know what you must be thinking right now." Isis spoke breaking through his thoughts. He looked up and saw that her face had softened. She was becoming like a maternal sister like before when they were alive.

"I know that you may not find it now but soon you will. I know you have reiatsu, Rishid. It'll just take time for you to discover it." Isis said lifting up a hand and lightly touching his cheek. Rishid's face flushed a little from the contact. He really did admire Isis for her kindness. But this was all just a bluff. He_ knew_ he'd never have power.

"Thank you, Isis-sama. But I'm afraid it will never happen. It'll be just like before when we were alive. I was just on the side as you and the boys became more important to the family. And when you leave it'll just be me… just like when my parents abandoned me." Rishid said softly turning away from Isis' face. He felt a light smack on his cheek. The same one Isis' caressed earlier. It wasn't hard enough that it would sting but it was enough for Isis to get the point across to him. Rishid looked at her stunned at the sudden slap she caused. She never did hurt him, not even when she was upset. But he supposed that there's a first for everything. After all this world was changing every one of the Ishtar's. Rishid lightly put a hand to his cheek in astonishment that Isis would ever do such a thing. Isis held no sign of remorse in her eyes. In fact she looked a little annoyed with him.

"Listen to yourself, Rishid. Do you honestly think that you're still the Ishtar's servant?" She asked. Rishid's eyes widened slightly. He didn't know how to answer that. Isis continued, "Me and my younger brother's have only seen you as our _brother_, Rishid. Even now in this world we see you as our brother. In this world we are free from our prior responsibilities. And in this world we are discovering new things. Things that may change us forever! And those changes are happening because we need to learn to let the past be buried in sand while we, as spirits in this new world learn to adapt to those changes. I will never forget who I was before, because my identity is all I have left of that world. But in this world none of us have to be tombkeeper's anymore. We can be something even more special than that. We can one day become shinigami and help those that are in trouble, just like the ones that sent us here."

Rishid's eyes widened. He understood what she was saying now. And she was right. They really were _free_. Free from the old world they lived in and free to live out their lives in any way they wanted to in this world. That means Rishid can no longer consider himself the Ishtar's servant. He can just be their _brother_ now. Thinking those words had never felt so good to Rishid. For the first time in a long time he felt at peace. He can be whoever he wanted to be now. And not one person was going to stop him now. Even if he didn't gain reiatsu he could still be his own man. And if he did have reiatsu some how, and it's just locked away inside him right now, he would do his best to become a shinigami, for not just his siblings but for himself as well. He wanted to become the type of man that one day he would find himself looking back at his younger self and tell him how useful he really is. And that was the kind of future Rishid wanted to have more than ever now. He smiled at Isis and wrapped her up in an embrace. She was surprised at first but hugged back burying her face into his shoulder.

"Thank you, Isis… Thank you."

_****__**Yes, I made Rishid into a bit of a Mary Sue, and that apparently women had to snap him out of it. And yes Rishid has a rather, not-too-innocent crush on Isis. Considering that they're not technically related it's kinda okay. But then again Akefia also has feelings for her as well. Knowing that Isis will never feel the same way, Rishid let Touzoku have his chance, but at the same time will always be a kind brother that will always look after her. Kinda a love triangle that didn't even get a chance for anyone to pay attention too since these pairings are a bit uncanon but whatever. I like em. Review please**_


	4. The Decisions

_**Note: Hey, iPanda again. Just to let you know that this may be the last chapter for a good while, considering that school starts tomorrow for me. And I plan to work my heart out this year, since I got two more years till I go to college. But on the bright side you get to enjoy some temporary happiness and more drama. Like I said this series is a crossover of bleach so there's going to to be a lot of that here. but have faith, because I will still upload. Just probably not once a week like before. But I'll ask my friend Echo if he could let me come over and update there. Enjoy, and please review. I'd really like that if you did ^^**_

Day's passed after that. Amane continued to lapse between sickness and health. And eventually the day came for Bakura and Ryou's birthday. Marik reminded his twin about it a few days before the birthday and both of them went into the village to get the Touzoku twins something that they'd might like. Mariku and Marik managed to put their money together and buy Bakura a knife and Ryou a journal. The knife, as expected was expensive and the journal was only a few coin pieces cheaper. Neither of the boys knew what to get Ryou and when Marik saw the book on the shelf of a store he thought Ryou would like it. For some reason candy and toys didn't seem like the proper present for the cheerful boy and though the journal didn't seem like the right gift either it was still something Marik thought Ryou would like. After that the boys hid the gifts in their room until September 2. By then Amane was feeling much better. But unfortunately most of the residents beside Marik and Mariku forgot about Bakura's and Ryou's birthday. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

"Hey, we got a surprise for you two today." Marik said grinning happily with Mariku sitting beside him at the dining table. Bakura blinked in confusion while Ryou looked up from his breakfast.

"Like what?" Ryou asked. Marik's smile widened.

"Oh don't tell me you've forgotten, Ryou. After all you and Bakura share the same _birthday_." Marik said with a slight raise of the eye brow and a knowing smirk on his face.

"Same birth- Oh!" Ryou exclaimed as if finally understanding what Marik was trying to say. "How could I forget our own birthday?!" Ryou said face flushed in embarrassment. Bakura choked on his rice. Isis and Rishid exchanged glances while Akefia slapped himself on the forehead.

"Where'sh the cake?" Amane asked.

"Uh… The cake…? Well let's see…" Ryou hummed as if trying to find the right answer to his much younger sister. How do you tell a child anyway that there's no cake for a birthday as everyone forgot about it?

"I could make it," Isis said stepping in.

"That's a great idea! Maybe I can help too-" Ryou was about to suggest until Mariku slapped his hand across the other boy's mouth.

"Now now, Ryou. Don't you know that the birthday kid is supposed to not do anything today? Why the only thing you should concern yourself with is what me and Marik got for you and Bakura today." Mariku said releasing Ryou's mouth. The boy's face was a little red from the close proximity their faces had just a second ago.

"You two actually got us something?" Bakura asked. Marik nodded happily.

"But you won't be able to find out what it is until dinner tonight." Marik smirked deviously. Bakura frowned.

"Oh come on! Can't we just get a hint?" Bakura begged. Marik enjoyed having these rare moments where he had the upper hand.

"Nope. Not until dinner." Marik said smiling. Bakura glared at him though it was a playful glare.

"Damn, I completely forgot about my little brother's birthday…" Akefia murmured.

"It's okay, Akefia. Me and Rishid didn't even know about it until now." Isis said placing a hand on his shoulder. Ever since Isis found out about her powers and that Rishid put Akefia in responsibility of taking care of her, Isis and Akefia have been becoming close friends even if it's been less than a week. Of course the children have no knowledge of this yet, but Bakura has been noticing Akefia talking to Isis more.

"Well, I guess that goes to show how close friends we are to Bakura and Ryou." Marik said cheerfully. Ryou smiled brightly when Marik actually considered him and Bakura as his friend. Bakura just blushed slightly and looked away pretending to not being effected by Marik's words. But on the inside Bakura was happy that Marik actually considered him his friend.

"Okay well why don't you stooges go play outside for awhile. We need to get the house ready for the party." Akefia said shooing the kids out of the kitchen. They had all finished breakfast anyway. It just means that Isis and Rishid had some dishes to clean and cooking to do. Amane was with the boys when they ran out to play in the forest. Ryou turned around and saw her behind them by less than two meters.

"Amane, are you sure it's a good idea to be playing outside?" Ryou asked crouching his knees enough to look his sister in the eye. She gave him a toothy grin.

"Yesh, onni-chan! I feel better now. Beshides, I wash getting bored from being shtuck in the houshe for sho long." She said smiling brightly. Ryou frowned still a little worried about his sister's health.

"She'll be fine, Ryou. Besides some fresh air will do her some good." Bakura said standing behind his younger brother. Ryou was about to say an objection to that when Amane leapt up to Bakura and hugged him tightly.

"I love you, onni-shan!" Amane said with a slight lisp on the word "san".

"What game should we play?" Marik asked walking up to the Touzoku siblings.

"Hide and sheek! Hide and sheek!" Amane said bouncing up and down from the grass.

"Okay but Mariku's it." Bakura said. Before Mariku could yell at Bakura for making him _it _all the kids ran off in different directions.

"Count to fifty!" Ryou said before he disappeared behind some bushes.

Mariku groaned before walking towards a tree and closing his eyes, " One… two… three… four…" Mariku counted.

Meanwhile all the other's were busy finding hiding spots. Ryou chose to climb up a tree and hide within the branches. Amane childishly hid under a bush less than 5 meters from Mariku. Bakura and Marik on the other hand quietly argued over a hiding spot that they both found "first".

"Move it, Bakura! I found it first." Marik whispered pointing at an old dug out burrow. Bakura meanwhile was half way inside the underground hole.

"Yeah, well I was here _first_!" Bakura hissed. Marik tried to get Bakura to move out of the burrow by tugging at the back of his kimono trying to pull the boy out of the hole.

"Only because you stole it from me!" Marik argued still trying to pull Bakura out of the dug out hole. Despite Bakura's size he was apparently much stronger than Marik as he stood his ground inside the burrow.

"Thirty-nine… forty… forty-one… forty-two…" Mariku said loudly now. Marik gulped and ran off to find his own hiding spot instead. Bakura smirked and crawled in deeper inside of the hole where no one can see him.

Marik ran around aimlessly as he tried to find a new hiding spot until he saw a couple of trees grouped together. Marik could easily climb up those and hide within the branches. With that thought in mind he made for a quick assault on the tree.

"Forty-six… forty-seven… forty-eight… forty-nine… fifty!" Mariku shouted and pulled away from the tree and began looking for his friends. Marik was sadly halfway up the tree by the time Mariku said fifty but thankfully his brother was going to a different direction so Marik still had a chance to hide in the tree.

Mariku wandered around the forest, looking for any sign of his friends. A piece of hair or clothing sticking out of the vegetation would be helpful. Or maybe some giggling or breathing sounds. Heck, some plants shuffling around would be pretty useful right now. Mariku stood in the center of the forest and closed his eyes to let his senses take over. It was said that if you don't use your sense of sight your sense of hearing could come in pretty handy. So Mariku stood and waited, trying to hear for anything that might seem odd in the quiet forest.

_Crunch_

_Shuffle_

_Breathing._

Someone was nearby. Opening his eyes he followed the sound of shuffling leaves and before Mariku got close to some bushes Amane darted out and ran for it. Mariku smiled and ran after the girl, and before she could tag the tree Mariku was counting on earlier, the larger boy scooped her up off the ground making the little girl squeal.

"No fair! No fair!" The younger girl laughed. And Mariku laughed too. Sure it wasn't fair to catch the youngest but, it was just too much fun.

"Hey, Amane. Do you mind helping me catch the others?" Mariku asked setting the girl down. Amane looked around the forest as if contemplating an answer when she pointed up to a tree.

"Onni-chan's up there." Amane said. Mariku looked in the direction she was pointing and saw some white that didn't quite fit with the green leaves. He smirked.

"Thanks, Amane. Why don't you find the other's while I get Ryou, okay?" Mariku said running off for the trees. Amane nodded and ran towards to where she saw Bakura go to.

Ryou, having been ratted out by his little sister tried climbing down the trees but unfortunately, getting down from a tree was much harder than getting up it. So Ryou was just a foot away from the ground when Mariku was already there next to him and poked him in the stomach, tagging the boy. Ryou gasped before falling to the ground. Ryou apparently was very ticklish which just made things more fun for Mariku.

"Hey, Ryou." Mariku said holding out a hand to help Ryou up. Ryou took the hand before Mariku tackled him and started tickling him in the stomach.

"Ahahahahaha! S-stop it, M-mariku! Th-that tickles- Hahahahah!" Ryou giggled underneath Mariku trying to crawl away from him.

"But that's exactly why I'm doing this! It's just too much fun to see you like this!" Mariku laughed as he tickled Ryou's sides making the boy squirm.

"S-s-s-stop it! Hahahahhaha!" It was hopeless for Ryou now. Mariku was going to tickle him until the boy stops breathing. And Mariku has come pretty close to that too, by the way. The others would usually step in because Mariku was going too far with the tickling. And it's not like it never crossed Mariku's mind either. Marik may not remember it, and perhaps there are things that even Mariku himself chose to block out, but the memories of him killing people that night and the feelings he had when he did it; how good it felt to take a person's life away, and to do it over and over and over until it came to the point that the guards came in with weapons. Outnumbered and outmatched Mariku did the one thing he could think of besides killing others: Kill himself. And though, now in the after life, where things seem to have changed for the better Mariku still has random thoughts and urges to kill people. He wasn't sure what was the cause of it, but all he knew is that he wanted to kill again. And Mariku would sometimes mask these _harmless_ tickle fights when really he just wanted to see how far he could go before Ryou would start gasping for air.

"Mariku, I found onni-shan!" Amane said running up to Mariku and Ryou. Mariku snapped out of his homicidal thoughts and pulled away from Ryou who thankfully hadn't passed out from the lack of oxygen left.

"Wh-where's… Marik…?" Ryou panted. Another few more minutes and Ryou would've blacked out if it weren't for Amane.

"Oh, Marik's over here!" A familiar voice shouted through the woods. Each of the kids turned around and saw Marik standing next to the tree with his palm on the bark, and a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Marik, how'd you get over there so quick?" Bakura asked.

"Oh, when Amane was looking for you and Mariku was tickling Ryou." Marik explained and walked over to his friends. One thought that dawned on each of the children was that Marik took advantage of the situation and ran for the safe zone while they were distracted.

"What should we pway now?" Amane asked.

"Tag?" Marik suggested. But one look at Ryou who was still trying to catch his breath changed his mind.

"Why don't we play in the riv-" Bakura was about to suggest, but then he remembered seeing the carvings on Marik's back and how no one else knew about but them. No one else knows that Bakura had seen the scars that lay permanent on Marik's back even in the after life. It's probably the only reminder Marik would have of his human existence. And though Marik had blocked out his memories of his living existence one thing that would not go away from his mind was the dreadful day of being forced into the tombkeeper's initiation. It's like the scars on his back forbid him from forgetting about them.

"Why don't we draw picturesh in the dirt?" Amane asked. And like that all of them was up for it. Sure it wasn't technically a game but it sure did beat swimming in the river.

A couple hours later after playing a number of games, one of them being a game of soccer, and a game called shinigami vs. hollow (a game similar to cops and robbers), Isis stepped out and called everyone one in for dinner. Like always the meal had some vegetarian cooking for the Ishtar's and a little bit of meat for the Touzoku's. After dinner Isis brought in the dessert. It wasn't technically a cake like the ones people have today as they didn't have the time or money to make the cake at such short notice but it was the kind of dessert Isis used to make when her family was alive. It was a type bread with honey and sugar on it. It was delicious to say the least. Isis had always helped Ryou with the cooking but never before have the family seen something like that. It wasn't a cake but both Ryou and Bakura were happy to have the substitute anyway. Then it was time to give out the presents for both the boys. Bakura insisted that Marik and Mariku give out there presents first since they said they bought one for them anyway. So both of the boys ran to their room and came back with their hands behind their back.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands," Marik said to Ryou. The boys smiled and did as he was. The boy opened his eyes when he felt some weight press onto his palm and looked down at his hands.

"A book?" Ryou asked. He loved reading but didn't expect something so expensive from either of the Ishtar twins.

"Not just any book. It's a journal. Now you can write in it whenever you want, Ryou." Mariku said first with a smile. Ryou held the book close to his chest and started trembling. That couldn't be a good thing.

"You don't like it?" Marik asked feeling a little sorry for letting Ryou down.

"N-no… it's not that. Actually I love it!" Ryou said lifting his head up. He was smiling but there were a few tears in his eyes.

"Then why are you crying?" Mariku asked slightly confused.

"It's just… I never had a journal before… their really expensive in Soul Society… I'm really happy to have one now. Thank you!" Ryou said dropping the book and hugged both of the boys. Marik smiled and returned the hug while Mariku awkwardly put his hand on the smaller boys back.

"Where'd you guys get the money to afford a book in the first place?" Bakura asked slightly bewildered. At best books in Soul Society and the rukangai were at least a couple hundred coins. It's something that even Bakura could get in trouble for stealing.

"Oh, we just sold a few things for some coins to buy your birthday presents." Marik said smiling. Bakura was stunned. What could they have sold to barter some money? It can't be their clothes. Bakura has seen them wear a different pair of clothes every day since they moved in. Unless they found something like a gem outside they couldn't have possibly gain that kind of money.

"Oh, it's your turn, Bakura." Marik said. Bakura was surprised that they could actually afford another gift for both of them. He smiled. _Probably just a toy._ Bakura closed his eyes and held out his hands. Marik placed the knife onto his hands. Bakura opened his eyes and looked down. His jaw dropped.

"Marik, where'd you get this?" Bakura asked in complete shock. Marik smiled.

"I just bought it at store into the village. I thought you'd like it." Marik said. Bakura looked down at the knife. It was quite an impressive looking knife. He run his thumb against the blade to check it's sharpness. It was slightly dull but Bakura could fix that. The handle was made out of metal too. No wood was used to create this masterpiece. There was even a carving into the blade that said in kanji "The power to keep fighting". Bakura loved the knife already.

"Ahem! Hey Bakura quit staring at the knife and say thank you already!" Akefia spoke out making Bakura snap out of his thoughts. He shot Akefia a glare who was smiling like an idiot. He looked up at Marik who was smiling happily that Bakura liked his present. Bakura's face heated up and he looked down, away from Marik. He was never used to saying things like "thank you" or "sorry" so this was quite difficult for Bakura. But Marik worked so hard to get him and Ryou these expensive things. If anything the knife was almost a thousand coins.

He looked up at Marik and swallowed his pride, "Thank you, Marik".

Less than a month later Amane fell greatly ill and died. She just got sick and couldn't recover from it. They did manage to get a doctor to check on her. Probably one of the greatest doctors in history. The kids were shopping for more medicine when Unohana happened to be passing by. Ryou was crying as they were walking into town about Amane's illness when the older shinigami happened to be nearby.

"Excuse me, but is something the matter?" The tall woman with the braid on the front asked. Ryou looked extremely fearful of the older women, thinking he probably upset them.

"N-no, it's f-fine" Ryou managed out.

"You and Bakura are Sano's and Kiyome's children aren't you?" She asked with a warm smile.

"Wait how do you know our parents?" Bakura asked slightly surprised. Their parents didn't speak about anyone they conversed with while they were alive.

"It's because I was their friend a long time ago. You two probably don't recognize me, but I used to visit and treat your parents when your were much younger. My name is Retsu Unohana. It's a pleasure to be meeting you again." She said smiling. She turned to Marik and Mariku and gave them a warm smile as well. "And I see you have some new friends as well. It's nice to meet you." She greeted to the two other boys. Marik bowed his head in greeting.

"It's nice to meet you too, miss. But we should get back to shopping." Marik said.

"Oh, what are you two buying?" She asked. All of the boys pursed their lips together not wanting to tell her about Amane's illness. "It's okay. I was a friend to your parents so you can trust me." She said with a smile.

"W-we're getting m-medicine for my sister Amane… She's r-really sick right now." Ryou muttered in between sobs. Unohana frowned.

"Oh, dear. That's not good." She said looking thoughtful, "Would you like me to check up on her? I know I can be a good help to Amane." She asked with a smile. Almost at the same time all four of the boys looked at Unohana incredulously.

"No! That won't be necessary, Unohana-taicho." Bakura stammered.

"If you're worried about money, then don't worry. I always treat my patients free of charge." She said with the same smile as before.

"But-"

"Please, let me help her." Unohana said. Something about that smile and the way she said those words so persistently spoke to all of them that it wasn't even a request.

"U-umm… sure… Let us show you the way to our house." Bakura said nervously all of a sudden. It was common sense to not mess with a captain from the seretei, but at the same time both Marik and Mariku were shocked to see all the spunk drain away from Bakura in a matter of seconds. By the time they got home Rishid had fell unconscious from hunger. No one even noticed as Rishid was the only one in charge of looking after Amane while Akefia and Isis were making lunch for both of them. It was needless to say that the state of the house was nearly chaotic when Akefia saw Unohana walk in.

"U-Unohana-taicho! What in the world are you doing here?" Akefia asked in total shock.

"Akefia, you know this woman?" Isis said walking into the living room. Akefia lightly bopped her on the head.

"'Woman'?! Unohana-taicho is the greatest healer in all of Soul Society and has been a captain from the very beginning! Show some respect!" Akefia scolded. Though Isis knew that he was panicking and didn't really mean the way he said that.

"Pardon my rudeness, Unohana-taicho," Isis said bowing before her politely. "But may I ask why you are here?" She asked lifting her head.

"These boys right here told me that a young girl is really sick, so I offered to check up on her." She said with that kind smile. Akefia rushed over to the boys as they stood in the doorway with a sheepish smile.

"How did you run into her?! How much did you pay her?!" Clearly Akefia was in hysterics.

"Oh, don't worry about money. I always take care of my patients for free. Besides your parents were good friends of mine. It's the least I could do." Unohana said standing just inches behind Akefia. He jumped and spun around.

"You'd really help her?" He asked trying to get his cool back.

"Of course! May you please show me where her room is?" She asked. Everyone in the room led Unohana to where Amane and Rishid were. When Akefia opened the door the first thing he saw was Rishid collapsed on the floor and Amane panting in her sleep.

"Gah! Rishid! What happened to you?!" Akefia said running over to the bald male. Rishid didn't respond to Akefia's shouting.

"Oh, my. Looks like I have another patient to take care of." Unohana said with the same smile. Marik, Mariku and Isis stepped into the room behind Unohana and saw the same thing. Isis gasped and ran over to Rishid. Marik wanted to go to Rishid as well but he couldn't help but rush to Amane instead.

"What's happening?! They're both sick!" Marik cried as he switched glances from Amane to Rishid. Unohana stepped forward.

"Now, now. Rishid isn't sick. He just passed out from hunger, which means he too has reiastu. But Amane is in critical condition. May I ask for you to take Rishid out of the room while I work with Amane?" She asked kindly. Akefia and Isis helped Rishid to his room and get him some food; the same way Rishid and Akefia had done for Isis weeks ago. After that they returned to the living room with the boys. All four of the boys were sitting in a circle with their knees to their chests. None of them spoke a word. Akefia sat in between Bakura and Ryou while Isis sat in between her two younger brothers.

"Don't worry, you guys. Unohana is the best doctor in Soul Society. She can cure Amane." Akefia said patting Ryou on the back. They wanted to believe him but Unohana's words kept echoing in both Bakura's and Ryou's minds. _She's in critical condition… critical condition… critical condition… critical condition…_

One hour passed. Then two passed. Then three. Soon it was night time and Unohana still hadn't left the room. The boys refused to do anything else except wait to find out if Amane could be saved. By then Rishid had woken up and went into the living room with a confused expression on his face.

"What's going on here? Why wasn't I in Amane's room?" Rishid asked sitting in between Mariku and Ryou.

"Because you passed out from an empty stomach. But on the bright side, it turns out you actually have reiatsu." Akefia said plainly. Rishid's face changed from stunned, to happy, then to concern.

"What about Amane? Is she alright?" Rishid asked. Akefia paused for a moment.

"The boys brought Unohana-taicho over. She's a captain in Soul Society and a healer as well. She's working on Amane right now." Akefia said. And with that silence continued into the room for another hour. Isis had gone to the kitchen to make a snack for everyone when Unohana walked out. She stood with a frown on her expression. The frown somehow didn't seem natural for her.

"I'm sorry, but there is nothing more that I could do." She admitted. Ryou cried out. It sounded like he was screaming at first but then tears started rolling down his cheeks. Bakura looked like he was in complete and total shock. Akefia frowned at the floor and his shoulders started trembling. Marik wasn't sure if he was crying or angry. Isis calmly walked over to Unohana.

"May you please tell us what happened?" She asked quietly. Her voice wavered for a moment and Marik thought that she too was going to cry.

"I did my best, but she had been infected by a virus she may have gotten from a hollow sometime in the past." Unohana said. Ryou's crying had stopped completely at the word "hollow".

"W-what…?" Ryou asked.

"It may have happen a long time ago and neither of you may have noticed the effects up until now. The virus worked like a dormant parasite inside her. It must have woken up when it felt more reiatsu in this house," Everyone looked at each other. _Everyone _has spiritual powers! "And once the parasite was awakened it started feeding off of her. It started with her body to her very soul…" Unohana said looking down at the floor.

"D-does that explain why Amane's always so sick…? Because Bakura, Akefia, and I had reiatsu…?" Ryou asked quietly. It was almost a whisper and tears were still streaming down his cheeks.

"Yes." She said giving the boy an apologetic gaze.

"So it got worse when my family moved in… It's our fault Amane died…" Marik whispered. Bakura punched him hard in the face causing the tan boy to fall backwards on the floor and clutching his bruised cheek.

"Don't you _dare_ blame yourself for Amane's death! It's the hollow's fault that she died! Not your fault, got it?!" Bakura yelled. Marik looked up and saw that Bakura was also crying. It looked like it took everything he had to hold it in.

"But-"

"Marik, if you ever blame yourself for anything that isn't your fault, I'll… I'll…" Bakura couldn't finish that sentence as he fell to his knees crying his eyes out. It was the second time Marik had ever seen Bakura cry and this one was more pitiful than the last time. Before Marik wasn't expecting Bakura to cling onto him and cry into his chest. But now Bakura was crying over the death of his sister. Without thinking Marik wrapped his arms around him and held him there. Bakura stopped crying for a moment, but once it settled in that Marik was comforting him Bakura sobbed into his chest, just like he did before.

Everyone stood in black clothing at Amane's funeral. By then everyone had calmed down about it. Unohana had stayed with them for a few days before returning to the seretei. But she returned to attend the funeral service along with Ukitake. It turned out that Amane loved playing with Ukitake and he was also friends with Bakura's parents. Maybe his parents were popular shinigami? But it didn't matter now. Amane was buried next to her parents. No one could bring up the courage to give a eulogy so everyone gave their final goodbyes, leaving a white lily on her coffin before it was lowered into the ground. The Ishtar's and the Touzoku's chose to stay a while longer. Ukitake and Unohana left back for the seretei under their request. Everyone wanted to have some time alone.

"This is it." Akefia announced. Everyone turned around when he spoke. "I'm going to become a shinigami. And I'll do it by taking the next entrance exam. If everything goes well, I could become a shinigami in six years." Akefia said.

"Me and Rishid also want to become shinigami." Isis said.

"What about us?! Who's going to take care of us once your gone, huh?!" Mariku snapped glaring at his older siblings.

"You'll have your brother and Bakura and Ryou to do that." Rishid said.

"Besides, we'll visit on the holidays once we attend Shinigami Academy." Akefia said.

"Don't bother! If you're just going to leave us like this then don't even trouble yourself with visiting us!" Mariku shouted glaring at the Akefia hatefully. Akefia narrowed his eyes.

"Are you mad because you want to become a shinigami also?" He asked kneeling down to eye level with the younger boy. Mariku paused for a moment before punching him in the face.

"Of course I want to become a shinigami! All of us want to be a shinigami! We hate this life! We want to become powerful, and the only way for that to happen is to go to that damn school!" Mariku yelled. He was voicing everyone's thoughts. They all want to become shinigami but the only person that wanted it more was Mariku. Akefia showed no sign of being affected by the punch and turned his face to the boy one more time.

"I know how badly you want power right now, but first you must become stronger inside before learning how to gain power." Akefia said.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?! Are you telling me to be a fucking statue when shit like this happens again?!" Mariku yelled pointing at Amane's headstone.

"What I mean is to control the power that you have inside yourself." Akefia said pressing a finger gently into Mariku's chest. "Somewhere inside you is a spirit of your future zanpaku-to. He already knows who you are but you must find him within yourself before you even think of going to the academy. Then you must learn to control him and work with him, because he'll be your comrade and weapon on the battlefield. Do you understand? You're _not_ ready to go to the academy yet unless you find him inside yourself." Akefia said. He stood back up and looked down at the boy. Mariku was completely speechless. Sure he dreamed of having his own zanpaku-to and would frequently draw designs of what his sword would look like, but never before had he thought of the fact that it would be inside him already. Not that he felt possessed or anything, as that technically didn't happen for spirits anyway. But he felt that he probably did have someone inside him waiting to be found right now. And Mariku was the one to find that spirit for his zanpaku-to

"Alright."

The days followed by quickly as they turned into weeks, and then months. Soon it was already winter and it began to snow as well. It was the first snow that the Ishtar's had ever seen. Bakura smiled as Marik and his twin walked out onto the snow covered patio in nothing but their pajama's and sandals. It was hilarious when both of the twins frantically bounced around and ran all over the patio trying to get away from the freezing snow before Isis called them into the house.

"Isis, it's white out there!" Marik said clinging to his sister, quite clearly terrified.

"What are you talking about?" Isis asked and went to close the front door before she also saw all the snow outside. "What in the world…" She gasped as she saw her breath turn into smoke in front of her.

"So this is your first snowy winter, huh?" Akefia asked walking into the room. Rishid stood behind him and noticed the white blanket of snow out through the still open door.

"Snow?" Marik asked.

"Yeah, it snows every winter in Soul Society. Don't worry it's not dangerous. It's just frozen water. Sometimes there are even ice in the rivers." Ryou said.

"Ice?" Mariku asked.

"Yeah, it's just a frozen body of water. It's also harmless unless the ice is thin." Bakura said.

"So that's why it's so cold." Isis said still looking at the snow in front of them.

"Then close the door, silly!" Akefia called out. Isis shot him a glare before closing the door.

"What are we going to do?" She asked turning around.

"Well, we could show you guys how to build a snowman or have a snow ball fight." Akefia suggested. All the siblings blinked in unison.

"You mean you can play with snow?" Isis asked.

"Well yeah! We aren't about to let all that snow go to waist are we?" Akefia asked.

"It's a good thing we have some over-coats to wear, otherwise we'd freeze outside." Ryou said going down the hall to get the jackets. Once Ryou gave everyone their coats the boys went to play outside just like they did before. Isis stayed so she could make some tea if anyone wanted to go back inside.

It was cold. Just like everything else outside of the house. But on the bright side Marik, Rishid, and Mariku were taught how to build a snow man or have a snow ball fight. They played Ishtar's versus the Touzoku's. The Touzoku's had an advantage but with Mariku on their side the Ishtar's won the first round. They played another two round with the Touzoku's winning and after that they decided to build a snow man. The Touzoku's of course had to help the Ishtar's as their depiction of a snow man was quite literally a sloppy sculpture of a man with Mariku's coat over it for clothes.

"What the hell is that?" Akefia asked in between laughs. Bakura and Ryou were also laughing at the odd snow sculpture.

"Well you said 'build a snow man'", Marik said in an annoyed tone.

"But that's not what a snow man is supposed to look like!" Bakura laughed more.

"Then tell us, oh wise snow person! How do we build one?" Marik asked sarcastically.

"Here let's show you how it's done." Akefia said. Akefia and his younger brothers walked over and showed them how to make a proper snow man. It surprised the Ishtar's that all you had to do was roll up three balls of snow and pile them on top of each other. _No wonder they laughed at us._ Marik thought.

"It's seems so simple," Rishid hummed as he patted down the snow man's body.

"That's the point. Making an actual figure of a man with snow is too complicated so people just roll up some snow to make a snow man." Ryou explained.

"Why doesn't it have a face or arms?" Mariku asked, tilting his head at the snow man.

"Oh, we just use rocks and sticks for the face and arms." Ryou said.

"I'll go get some." Marik said running off to find some stones. Ryou must of run off for the sticks as well because when Marik came back Ryou had a small arm full of broken tree branches. It was quite difficult for Marik to find any stones as there was enough snow to cover the forest for about 15 cm. Not to mention that the snow is _freezing!_ Marik would almost always breath warm air into his hands after digging them into the snow. He only managed to come back with at least four stones.

"That's it?" Bakura asked.

"Well, it's hard to find them when there's snow everywhere! And it's freezing!" Marik yelled in exasperation. Despite the fun, he actually wanted to go back into the warmth of the house with some hot tea. Bakura smiled and shook his head.

"It's not that hard to find some rocks around here, Marik. You didn't even have to run off to find them. There's actually a lot rocks underneath our feet below the snow right now." Bakura said pointing at the ground. And to emphasize his point he bent over to dig up the said rocks under the snow and pulled out up to five rocks. Marik felt like slapping himself.

"How was I supposed to know that?!" Marik shouted picking up a rock from his hand and tossing it at Bakura. Bakura easily dodged it however and ended up laughing at his expense much to Marik's annoyance.

"Okay girls, enough! After we finish the snow man we'll go back inside. Is that good enough for you?" Akefia asked giving Marik a look that read _do that again, and I'll be sure to turn you into a snow man_. Marik glared at him but nodded. Each of them took turns placing the rocks onto the top ball of snow making a face. They first put in the eyes, then the nose, and finally the mouth. After that Ryou and Bakura stuck in the arms. As promised everyone went back inside the house. They changed out of their freezing cold clothes and put on a change of warm clothes. They drank tea and talked about the stuff they did outside with Isis as she listened intently. After all was said she brought everyone's attention back to her.

"Oh, and I have some news. While you were all outside, an administrator from Shinigami Academy came by with this letter. I thought it would be necessary to read it if everyone was here." Isis said, opening up the letter and reading it aloud.

'_Dear, Akefia Touzoku, Isis Ishtar, and Rishid Ishtar. It is to my greatest honor to except the three of you into Shinigami Academy on January 2__nd__ of next year. We will mail you your school schedules, uniforms, and the necessities you'll need to attend the school. You will be given the best teachings any future shinigami will need, from sword training, kido practice, shunpo training, reiatsu control, and many more. You will also take lessons, quizzes and exams that will effect your grading. You will each live in your own dorms, and will only leave the academy for visits with friends or relatives you may have in the rukangai district. Any absences from school or class without a legitimate reason will be punishable. Remember, you are attending this school to become the best shinigami you can be, not to play around. Schooling may last up to six years though you can skip grades if you prove to be skillful in all subjects you are taking and graduate early. We will be expecting you with open arms.'_

_Sincerely,_

_Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto_

All of them sat there quietly soaking in the message. It was the first letter ever that said that Akefia, Isis, and Rishid could go to Shinigami Academy. It was also the first letter that had excepted them. It was almost a surprise that they had been excepted so easily. It didn't even give them the results of their entrance exam they took less than a month ago. It just said that they could go to school at the beginning of next year. Boy, did so much happen in just one year. Marik could remember all the events that happened him in just one year of moving in with the Touzoku's. He showed Bakura his scars, and Bakura showed him Kurayami. Amane goes through a series of lapses between health and sickness. They celebrate Bakura and Ryou's birthday. Amane dies. They move on. Isis, Akefia, and Rishid train vigorously for the entrance exams for over a year. Now it's a snowy late November. Marik and Mariku's birthday's are a few weeks away. Of course everyone had already made early plans for how to celebrate the twin's birthday's but now it felt like it was going to be their last time together. In a month away it would just be Bakura and his brother along with Marik and his brother left at home all day for the next six years while their older siblings go to school and become shinigami. Things felt different after Isis read that letter.

"You'll be leaving pretty soon, huh?" Ryou asked. Isis nodded looking down at the folded up letter in her lap.

"You'll be leaving after our birthday…" Marik murmured looking down. Akefia placed a hand on his shoulder and the boy looked up at him. Akefia had a warm, comforting smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that made everyone think that everything was going to be okay.

"You'll worry about us leaving when the time comes. But for now lets just enjoy the time we still have with each other." And they did. They lived up their final days with their older siblings until the day came that they had to leave. Marik was sad that they had to go. He didn't want them to leave. He wanted everyone to be together for awhile longer before they had to go. A tear rolled down on his left cheek as he watched their only family leave them for school, for their future. Bakura placed a hand on Marik's shoulder, and the boy turned to him and rubbed the tear off his face with the back of his hand. Bakura was smiling comfortingly making Marik's face flush a little.

"Don't worry about them. They're going to become the best shinigami ever, while we get to stay kids for a few more years. At least we won't have them breathing down our necks again." Bakura joked, making not only Marik but also Ryou and Mariku laugh.

"Yeah he's right. I'm mean we finally get the whole house to ourselves! Don't tell me you don't want to live up your childhood a little longer, Marik?" Mariku asked with a smile on his face. It seemed like everyone was smiling, trying to make the best of the situation.

"Well, I guess it's not so bad, now that you mention it. I'm just going to miss them." Marik said giving one final glance at the now empty forest. They were long gone by now. They were probably trying to use the directions they received in the last letter to find the school.

"We're all going to miss them, Marik. But we just can't stand here and hope that they'll come back soon. We have to train hard too, if we want to attend Shinigami Academy someday." Ryou said. Those words sounded familiar to Marik for some reason. _Did I say the same thing to him two years ago?_ The thought was almost a distant memory now. But Ryou was right. They now can start training in advance to attend Shinigami Academy one day. It was a promise Marik and everyone made to themselves the day they arrived Soul Society. And they were going to fulfill that promise no matter what.

_**Well, this certaintly was an interesting chapter to write and I never knew that there would be some errors in my writing, but nothing that couldn't be fixed. I tend to have an OCD for stuff like that. I guess that's what happens when you get inspiration at night to write stuff like these. Don't forget to review, and I'll try to edit the other chapters so they won't be so choppy.**_


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